by BOISE, Idaho — The story has been defense all year for Eastern Washington women’s basketball and they rode that strength to the conference title game. Eastern defeated Montana State 56-39 on Tuesday and will play in the Big Sky Tournament finals tomorrow. The Eagles improved to 28-5 on the season.
“It was not easy. This Montana State team is so good defensively. They really got us out of our action,” head coach Joddie Gleason said. “They deny really well and switch everything. It’s just a little bit less comfortable than what you’re used to. I just love the way our kids responded. [MSU] forced a lot of turnovers in the first half and then we really kept that to a minimum in the second. It’s just about having composure. [MSU] does a nice job of running people at you and they’re really long so you just have to take a breath, take a look and make a pass. It seems pretty simple but that’s kind of what you have to do.”
EWU held the Bobcats to 25.9 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers. The team had a season-high seven blocks in the game. Jacinta Buckley led the team with 16 points, with Jamie Loera supporting with 12.
“We just played [MSU] last week. It was a scout that was very familiar to us,” Gleason added. “They have some firepower in their posts and we just tried to make it tough for them with our rotations. They got us a couple times on their slips and rolls to the basket, so we want to make sure we work on that, but I thought we did a nice job locking in defensively.”
There was little separation early in the game as both teams tried to get their offense working. Montana St. went up 7-3 but Eastern responded with three-straight points, getting a layup from Alexis Pettis. Down 9-8, Jaleesa Lawrence worked for an offensive rebound and converted it into a layup to take the lead. The Bobcats retook the lead on a layup and three seconds left in the quarter. EWU trailed 11-10 at the break after shooting 40.0 percent from the floor.
The score remained close into the second quarter, as Montana St. could not separate from Eastern. The Eagles used layups from Buckley and Aaliyah Alexander to keep the Bobcats in striking distance. At the 6:21 mark of the quarter, Loera handed EWU a 16-15 lead with a fade away jumper. The jumper was part of a 13-0 run for the Eagles that put them up 25-15 with 2:15 left in the half. Buckley was key in the quarter, scoring nine of Eastern’s 18 points. At the half, EWU held a 28-17 advantage, shooting a staggering 88.9 percent and holding Montana St. to 14.3 percent.
The Bobcats opened with the first four points of the third quarter to cut down the Eastern lead. Alexander got the Eagles on the board with a three, but it was quickly answered by Montana St. with their own three. Loera connected on a three to put the lead back in double figures and 5:20 on the clock. Both team’s defenses tightened up down the stretch in the third, as Eastern was held to 23.1 percent shooting and Montana St. was at 28.6. EWU led 37-27 after three with Alexander scoring six points.
Eastern looked to close out the Bobcats and opened with a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter. Loera connected from three, along with layups from Lawrence and Buckley. The Eagles continued to score well, posting 19 points and shooting 46.7 percent in the quarter. EWU’s defense limited the Bobcats to 12 points and 30.0 percent shooting. The team closed out Montana St., 56-39, shooting 46.8 percent overall in the game.
