WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Brittany Klaman made the game-winning three-pointer with four seconds remaining to help lift the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team past UT Martin in the final game of the Traveler's Invitational on Wednesday (Dec. 20). The Eagles had three players in double-figures and forced 21 Skyhawk turnovers to win 61-58.
 
Delaney Hodgins led the team with 18 points, followed by Amy Hartleroad who had a career-high 12. Symone Starks added 10 points for her second-straight game in double figures. The game was tightly contested, as it saw 11 lead changes and 13 ties.

"It's an understatement to say that this was a great way for us to head into the holiday break. It was an exciting game, I thought we played as loose as we have played all year and it showed on the stats sheet," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "We didn't necessarily shoot the ball well, but we shared the ball and I loved our assist to turnover ratio. More importantly, it was nice to see a lot of kids step up and hit big shots especially down the stretch. I thought Delaney had a great tournament and was awarded all-tournament honors deservedly. Today's win was definitely a team win and this is going to provide great momentum going into Big Sky play."
 
After trailing 15-10 after one, Eastern Washington strung together a 7-0 run in the second quarter, forcing five Skyhawk turnovers in the process. Trailing 23-19, Delaney Hodgins would hit a jumper to put the Eagles within two. With less than a minute remaining, Amy Hartleroad made a layup to tie the game 23-23 heading into the locker room.
 
Eastern shot 44.4% in the third quarter behind a 7-0 run midway through. In the fourth, Mariah Cunningham would tie it up 51-51 after a made jumper. From there, EWU held the Skyhawks scoreless for over two minutes and forced five turnovers during that time.
 
With a minute and a half remaining, Klaman hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 56-56. After a UT Martin layup, Starks tied the game with less than a minute left. EWU would call a timeout and UTM attempted to hit the game winning jumper but missed. Hodgins would dish the ball to Klaman who hit the winning three-pointer with four seconds on the clock. UT Martin called a timeout and took an attempt to score with two seconds left but missed, giving Eastern Washington the 61-58 win.   
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington wraps up the nonconference slate 5-7 overall. The Eagles bounce back from losses against Purdue and Saint Mary's at the Traveler's Invitational and enter Big Sky play on a one-game winning streak. UT Martin falls to 4-8 overall.
 
TOP PERFORMERS: Delaney Hodgins led the team with 18 points, followed by Amy Hartleroad who had a career-high 12. Symone Starks added 10 points for her second-straight game in double figures. Hodgins flirted with a double-double, adding nine rebounds. Starks also paced the Eagles with five assists and four steals.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Despite only shooting 33 percent to UT Martin's 44 percent, the Eagles forced 21 turnovers and scored 21 points off of them. EWU only had 11 turnovers. The Eagles also made a season-high nine three-point field goals, had 16 assists, and 34 rebounds to UTM's 39.
 
After shooting just 20 percent and 26.7 percent in the first two quarters, respectively, the Eagles warms up and shot over 43 percent in the second half.
 
NOTEABLES: Delaney Hodgins put together her eighth straight double digit scoring game – tenth this season and 88th time in her career.
 
For the seventh time in her career and fourth time this season, Symone Starks scored in double figures. Amy Hartleroad scored a career-high 12 points, marking her first career game in double figures.

HODGINS NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: Delaney Hodgins earned all-tournament honors after scoring 55 points in three games, an 18.3 points per game average. She shot 40.4 percent over the invitational on 23-for-57 shooting. She also averaged 7.7 rebounds per game, had eight assists, two blocks and four steals. She shot 50 percent from the free throw line (4-8) and 29.4 percent from three-point range (5-17).
 
SOARING TO THE TOP: After scoring 18 points this afternoon, Delaney Hodgins now has 1,657 career points to rank third all-time on EWU's all-time career scoring list. The Preseason Big Sky MVP is just 78 points away from moving into sole possession of second place and is 209 away from breaking her older sister Haley Hodgins' all-time record of 1,865 points.
 
UP NEXT: Big Sky Conference play begins at Reese Court on Dec. 28 at 6 p.m. against Northern Colorado and on Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. against North Dakota.