Jan. 11, 2007

Final Stats

The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team (6-10, 1-2 Big Sky Conference) had a tough time of it in its first home game of the Big Sky Conference season. The Eagles fell to the defending regular-season champions, Idaho State (5-8, 1-0 BSC), by a 90-60 score on Thursday evening (Jan. 11).

"I don't want to down play Idaho State's performance tonight, but we didn't come out with high energy," assistant coach Tom Webb said. "They played well and played hard defensively.

"Inside we played well, but at the same time, defensively, our kids could have done better defending inside. We have to learn to play hard on both sides of the ball. These girls on our team are young inside and they play hard. We just have to learn to make defensive stops."

Sydney Benson led the Eagle attack, as she contributed her third double-double of the season with team-high totals of 17 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. The block total ties for the most recorded by an Eagle this season. As a team, EWU recorded 10 putbacks, tying the season high, as well. Eastern Washington also had 10 in its season-opening 75-69 win over Montana Tech.

Freshman Nicole Scott had a career-high performance in points scored with 14. Tara Holgate and Katy Baker had seven rebounds each. As a team, the Eagles held tough on the boards, trailing by a 51-47 margin in that category.

The Bengals came out strong in their first conference game of the season, breaking away from a 4-all tie with 10 straight points and a 14-4 edge. The closest that Eastern Washington would get the rest of the way was five points, which came after a immediate 5-0 run.

Eastern returns to action this Saturday (Jan. 13), taking on Portland State at 7:05 p.m. The Vikings are 4-11, 0-2 in Big Sky play, and take on Weber State on Friday at the Stott Center before facing the Eagles. 

"It will be an interesting game at Portland State," Webb said. "Both teams like to get up and down the court, and it could be 100-100 out there on Saturday. I just hope we play a lot better than tonight. Portland State likes to trap and press, and we like to trap and press, but I think we are better inside and our guards can play well. Hopefully we will come out with a win."