by CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern Washington hit a season-high 15 3-point field goals in the victory. Delany Hodgins led the way with six 3-pointers, while redshirt senior Tisha Phillips (Nez Perce Tribe) hit three of her own en route to a career-best 25 points for the point guard.
The Eagles were able ride the momentum of nearly 3,000 elementary school children at the game to victory, as a season-best 2,730 were in attendance as a part of Kids Day at Reese Court.
EWU held Cal State Fullerton to just six points in the first 10 minutes of play to jump out to a 27-6 lead. The Titans pulled within 11 points at the break, 42-31, but the Eagles put their foot on the petal in the third, as they shot 63.2 percent from the field in the frame to build a 30-point lead at 73-43. Fullerton battled back in the fourth, but their deficit to the Eagles was too much to overcome, as EWU claimed a 17-point victory.
“I thought we were firing from all cylinders today,” added the head coach. “When you go 15-of-30 from behind the arc, you’re going to score some points. We had a nice inside-outside game going today, which opened things up for us out there. We were at our best today when we were getting stops and turning our defense into offense. I was pleased with how we responded to that second quarter out of the break. We had regrouped at half and was really able to put the foot on the petal in that third quarter to build a big lead.”
Win-Loss: The Eagles improve to 5-3 on the year, while Cal State Fullerton falls to 2-6.
What It Means: Today’s victory marks the second-straight win for Eastern, and it is the Eagles fifth win over the last six contests. EWU also improves to 2-0 on the year at Reese Court.
Turning Point: Eastern Washington opened the game on a 27-6 run in the first quarter and never looked back. The Titans scored the first two points of the contest, but EWU would then go on a 12-0 run to take a 10-point lead at 12-2. The Eagles would close the frame on a 15-4 spurt and held Cal State Fullerton scoreless for the final 3:24 of the opening frame to build a 21-point advantage.
Key Stats: Eastern hit a season-best 15 3-point field goals and shot an even 50 percent from behind the arc.
The Eagles defense forced 25 Titan turnovers on the day, which led to a 38-12 advantage in points off turnovers. Eastern also collected 17 steals on the day, which is the second-highest total for the EWU this season.
Milestones: With a three-pointer in the third quarter junior Delaney Hodgins became the 17th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. Hodgins ended the game with 28 points, which gives her 1,015 career points in just 73 career games.
Delaney joins her sister Hayley, who graduated last season with a school-record 1,862 points, on the 1,000-point list. The Hodgins are the first set of sisters to both be included on Eastern’s 1,000 Point List.
Top Performers: Junior Delaney Hodgins scored a game-best 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting. The forward hit six 3-point field goals on Thursday and filled up the stat sheet with a team-best eight rebounds and passed out a season-high five assists. She also collected four steals.
Redshirt senior Tisha Phillips scored a career-best 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field. The Lapwai, Idaho native matched her season-best in 3-point field goals with three.
Freshman Symone Starks provided a spark off the bench, as she tallied eight points and four assists in 21 minutes of play.
Notables: Eastern improves to 2-0 at home this season with the victory. The Eagles have now won five of their last six games to move to a season-best two games over .500.
Today’s total attendance was a season-best 2,730. Over 2,000 elementary school kids from the Cheney-Spokane area were in attendance as a part of Kids Day.
The Eagles hit a season-best 15 3-point field goals against Cal State Fullerton.
The 28 points scored by junior Delaney Hodgins extends her double-digit scoring streak to 25 games. The forward has also scored 20-or-more points in each of her last five contests.
Eastern Washington led for all but 21 seconds in Thursday’s victory.
What’s Next: The Eagles wrap up their two-game home stand this Sunday (Dec. 11), as they’ll take on regional rival Gonzaga. Tip-off from Reese Court is set for 2:05 p.m. PT. The game will also be broadcast live in the Cheney-Spokane area on SWX. Check local listings.
