Ogden, Utah – With the table set for a share of the Big Sky Conference regular season title, the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team saw its hopes dashed, falling, 80-74, to league foe Weber State Friday night, Mar. 4.
 
The loss, coupled with Idaho's setback at Idaho State, gives the conference's regular season title and No. 1 seed at next week's Big Sky Basketball Tournament to Montana State. The Eagles will be the No. 2 seed and receive a first-round bye into the quarterfinals, where they await either No. 7 Sacramento State or No. 10 Southern Utah.
 
Win-Loss Records
Eastern ends its regular season with a 19-11 record, including a 13-5 mark in Big Sky play. Weber State wraps up its regular season at 19-10 overall and 11-7 in conference play.
 
Turning Point
Weber State never trailed on the night, leading by as many as 17 points in the first half. The Eagles cut WSU's lead to eight, 37-29, heading into halftime before junior Ashli Payne scored the first six points of the third quarter to bring Eastern to within two, 37-35, with 7:45 on the clock. The Wildcats answered with a run to go back up nine, 35-44, at the 5:32 mark and would take a 61-51 advantage into the final frame.
 
The hosts scored nine of the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to go up 15, 70-55, with 8:05 remaining. EWU continued to fight, trimming Weber State's lead to six three times over the next five minutes, but the Wildcats had an answer for each Eastern run. The Eagles put WSU on the line multiple times down the stretch and managed to pull within four, 78-74, with 20 seconds left, but a costly turnover prevented Eastern from completing its comeback and handed Weber State the victory.
 
Top Performers
Redshirt senior Hayley Hodgins led Eastern with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting and made a trio of three-pointers. She added seven boards, three assists and two steals to her stat line.
 
Both Payne and sophomore Delaney Hodgins finished with double-doubles. Payne recorded 15 points and 10 boards while Hodgins tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three blocks and two assists.
 
Freshman Violet Kapri Morrow came off the bench to score eight points on 4-of-7 shooting while redshirt sophomore Bethany Montgomery added six points and six boards in 13 minutes of action.
 
Key Statistics
Eastern shot just 35.4 percent on the night while Weber State connected at a 49.1-pecent clip, its best outing in 14 games. The Wildcats made nine three-pointers, including a 7-of-16 performance from long range in the first half.
 
The Eagles pulled down 20 offensive boards and scored 19 second-chance points, and also turned 19 WSU turnovers into 12 points, but the Wildcats outscored Eastern by a total of 16 points from the free throw and three-point lines.
 
Quoting Coach Schuller
"Weber State played good basketball tonight. I thought they played harder and smarter than we did, especially early. We kept digging ourselves holes as a result of a breakdown here or there, and we didn't shoot the ball well. It's tough to win on the road when you shoot 35 percent. We had a lot of good looks in the paint, and we just need to finish those shots next time."
 
Game Notes
Tonight's defeat marks EWU's first loss to Weber State in 15 meetings since a 73-58 setback in Ogden, Utah, back on Feb. 14, 2008.
 
Hayley Hodgins moved into fifth all-time on the Big Sky's career made three-pointers list with her three triples tonight. She now has 235 career three-pointers.
 
Up Next
Eastern will travel to Reno, Nev., this Sunday, Mar. 6, for the 2016 Big Sky Basketball Tournament. As the tournament's No. 2 seed, they will play either No. 7 Sacramento State or No. 10 Southern Utah in a quarterfinal game on Wednesday, Mar. 9, at 5:35 p.m. PST.