CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team hosted Pac-12 foe Utah on Wednesday evening (Nov. 21), dropping a 95-51 decision to the Utes.
  "Tonight was a tough one, we didn't defend nearly the way we hoped we would. Utah is a talented team, they shoot the ball well and they run their stuff really well. The biggest thing that hurt us early was turning the ball over, we didn't handle it well and that's been our Achilles up to this point," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "We gave Utah a lot of early opportunities and they built a big lead over us and we had to play catchup. They are a good team and you can't play poorly like that against good teams."
 
Violet Kapri Morrow scored in double figures for the fourth-straight contest with 15 points, moving into 26^th on Eastern's all-time scoring list. She now has 863 career points, needing just 137 more to become the 18^th member of Eastern's 1,000-point club.
 
Freshman Jessica McDowell-White was the other Eagle to score in double figures with 10 points, marking her second-straight double digit game.
 
A Grace Kirscher three-pointer helped Eastern trail by just four points early in the first quarter, 11-7. Utah then used an 8-0 run to pull ahead 19-7, forcing an Eastern Washington timeout. Jessica McDowell-White would nail a three-pointer to stop the run, but another 18-0 spurt by the Utes made it 26-10 in Utah's favor. McDowell-White stepped up again and hit her second three-pointer of the quarter, but the Utes held a 29-13 advantage after one frame.
 
The Eagles shot just 22.2 percent from the field in the second quarter to Utah's 69.2 and were outscored 22-10, giving the Utes a 51-23 lead at the half.
 
Eastern's shooting improved in the third quarter, as they went 8-for-18 from the field and shot 44.4 percent, including 40 percent from beyond the arc. Kirscher hit a corner three-pointer to open the scoring for Eastern in the third quarter. Violet Kapri Morrow scored seven-straight points for the Eagles, including a coast-to-coast layup after a steal and a triple. With less than a minute remaining, Leya DePriest cashed in on her first points as an Eagle, but Eastern trailed 75-41 after three.
 
Utah closed the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run and held Eastern scoreless for the final five minutes en route to a 95-51 victory.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the loss, Eastern drops to 1-3 on the young season, while Utah improves to 5-0. The all-time series record between the two squads in the Division I era moves to 7-1 in Utah's favor.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Violet Kapri Morrow led Eastern with 15 points, followed by Jessica McDowell-White who had 10 and Grace Kirscher who had eight. Morrow also led the team in rebounding with six, followed by Bella Cravens who had a career-best four. Cravens also led the way with two blocks on the night.
 
McDowell-White also dished out a career-high five assists to lead the team. Kirscher and Alissa Sealby each tallied two steals.
 
KEY STATS: Eastern shot 34 percent (21-61) on the night to Utah's 63 percent (38-60). The Eagles were also out rebounded 43 to 24 and scored 28 points in the paint to UU's 56 points. EWU was 6-for-16 from behind the arc while Utah went 9-for-19. EWU turned the ball over 19 times while the Utes had 16 turnovers.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles hit the road as nonconference play continues a week from today, Nov. 28, at Cal Poly for an 11 a.m. Pacific time tip.
 
KAPRI'S QUEST FOR 1,000: Senior Violet Kapri Morrow is on the road to joining one of the most exclusive clubs in college basketball, the 1,000-point club. With 15 points today against Utah, Morrow now has 863 career points, needing just 137 more to become the 18^th player in Eastern Washington women's basketball history to eclipse 1,000 points.
 
With her performance, Morrow passes Julie Page (2004-06) for 27^th on Eastern's all-time scoring list. She now needs just five points to pass Kyla Evans (2008-11) with 868 career points to move into 26^th.