by CHENEY, Wash. — The new year started out with fireworks for Eastern Washington women’s basketball as they defeated Omaha, 96-82. Eastern poured in a season-high in points and won its final home game of the non-conference schedule. EWU also delivered a win for the conference in its first matchup of the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge. The team improves to 11-3 on the season and is on a five-game winning streak.
Jaleesa Lawrence matched her career-high with 23 points and Jacinta Buckley was right behind with 22 of her own.
“We probably have six or seven starters that could rotate in there. Depending on the defense and the matchups, we do such a good job of figuring out our advantage,” head coach Joddie Gleason described. “Jamie Loera, especially at the one, will find people. They were mixing it up playing zone and man. She did a huge job in the fourth quarter when they kept changing defenses. She found Millie Knowles and Jacenta Buckley to score some easy buckets. I think it’s just figuring out your advantage and we felt like we could get it inside with these guys so we did a good job of finding people. We knew that they wanted to run and get up and down, but that’s the way we can play as well. We wanted to continue with that and we thought our defense would be able to hold them down a little bit. They shot extremely well and when that happens, you have to bear down and try to get as many stops as you can. It’s obviously not the plan to give up 82 but as long as you score more than them it’s okay.”
Milly Knowles set career-highs with 16 points and 13 rebounds, shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor.
“The last two games, I think I’ve really struggled offensively. Going into this game, being an offensive threat was one of my goals,” Knowles explained. “They were pretty undersized making us able to get the ball inside a bit more and get some good looks so my teammates found me. We say FEO like “all for each other”and spread out evenly. We are so deep on the bench that when we do get in foul trouble it’s so easy for someone to step up. I think some of the girls did a really great job today coming off the bench.”
The offense was working early for Eastern as they had a 10-3 lead. Loera and Buckley each had made threes to build the early advantage. Omaha did not fade away in the game and stayed close. With EWU up 17-10 and 5:08 on the clock, the Mavericks used a 10-2 run to jump in front of the Eagles. Down the stretch, the teams traded points and the score was tied at 26 after one. The Eagles shot 50.0 percent in the opening quarter.
To begin the second quarter, Eastern and Omaha continued to go back-and-forth in scoring. The Mavericks found some separation at 34-31 and 7:27 left in the half. They pushed the lead to 41-35 at the 3:36 mark. The Eagles tied the game at 41 with a three from Buckley and Alexis Pettis. A layup from Buckley then gave EWU the lead. Eastern went into the half with a 48-45 lead after shooting 56.3 percent in the second.
Starting the third, Omaha looked to remain in striking distance of the Eagles. They were within two of Eastern at 54-52 at 7:27. Pettis then caught fire with two threes to build EWU’s first double-digit lead of the game, 62-52. Loera dropped in two threes of her own and Knowles added points in the paint. Eastern led 72-64 after the third quarter, shooting 47.6 percent.
The Eagles went into closer mode in the fourth quarter, shooting a lights-out, 60.0 percent from the floor. Lawrence asserted herself with nine points in the quarter, with Buckley adding eight. The Mavericks shot 42.9 percent from the floor and could not match the Eagles, with a 24 to 18 scoring deficit in the quarter. Eastern earned the 96-82 win, finishing with a 52.9 shooting percentage for the game.
