CHENEY, Wash. – The stats and result won't count, but the 2018-19 campaign unofficially got off to a good start for the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team. The Eagles played host to Simon Fraser today (Nov. 4) in its lone exhibition game of the season, picking up a 72-66 victory inside Reese Court.
 
Eastern Washington had three players score in double figures, while Violet Kapri Morrow earned a double-double (27 points, 12 rebounds). The Eagles were down 35-26 in the first half after only shooting 29 percent through two quarters, but improved to 59 percent in the second half to secure the six-point victory.
 
"It was good to get the kinks out. We obviously struggled offensively in the first half. We were taking good shots but we couldn't get the ball to fall into the basket. I'm not sure if it was jitters or getting used to game speed again, but overall I was happy with our effort. I didn't think we earned an A with our execution, but we played hard," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "We definitely have things to clean up on the defensive end, some of our rotations didn't look great, but we also played a lot of young players today. I expect it to take some time and for us to having growing pains, but overall, when we needed to make a push we did."
 
It took time for the Eagles to settle in, as they shot just 26.7 percent on 4-for-15 shooting in the first quarter, giving Simon Fraser, who shot 50 percent (7-14) a 16-13 lead.
 
In the second quarter, back-to-back layups from Uriah Howard and Violet Kapri Morrow put Eastern within one point, 18-17. The Clan were able to make six out of six free throw attempts and hit two three-pointers to maintain their advantage. Eastern shot 30 percent in the second quarter on 6-for-20 shooting, giving SFU a 35-26 lead at the half.
 
The Eagles emerged from halftime and used a 12-1 run over the first 3:48 and held Simon Fraser without a field goal for over four minutes. Alissa Sealby hit three-pointer from the top of the key and tied the game up 40-40. Seconds later, Jessica McDowell-White found Bella Cravens down low for the layup and Eastern took its first lead of the game and never looked back. Another 7-0 run helped EWU hold on to a one-point lead, 47-46 after three quarters of play. Eastern improved to 56.3 percent from the field on 9-for-16 shooting in the third.
 
In the fourth quarter, Eastern shot over 62 percent on 10-16 shooting. Morrow went on a 9-0 run all by her lonesome over 3:25 in the fourth quarter. A Cravens layup extended Eastern's scoring spree to 11-0 and forced a Clan timeout with EWU in the lead, 60-51. After holding SFU scoreless for over four minutes of play, the Clan hit a three-pointer to come within six points, but it wasn't enough as Eastern picked up the 72-66 exhibition victory.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Violet Kapri Morrow led the team with 27 points on 12-for-24 shooting. She also picked up the double-double with 12 rebounds to lead the Eagles.
 
Alissa Sealby and Uriah Howard also scored in double figures with 11 points apiece. Sealby shot 4-for-6 from the field including 2-for-3 from behind the arc.
 
Freshman Jessica McDowell-White had seven assists to lead the team along with two steals, three rebounds and five points. Brittany Klaman also had seven assists to go with six rebounds.
 
KEY STATISTICS: As a team, Eastern shot 43.3 percent on 29-for-67 shooting from the field. They also totaled 21 assists and only 12 turnovers. Eastern outrebounded the Clan, 43-35 and held them to 39.3 percent from the field.
 
SFU shot 26.7 percent from beyond the arc while Eastern only shot 19.2 percent (5-for-26). The Clan also outshot EWU from the charity stripe, 71 percent (10-for-14) to 56 percent (9-for-16).
 
UP NEXT: Today marked Eastern's lone exhibition match, the stats and result won't count for the regular season moving forward. The Eagles officially open the season at home one week from today as they play host to Gonzaga on Nov. 11 at 2:05 p.m. inside Reese Court. For tickets: GoEags.com/tickets.
 
MORE FROM COACH SCHULLER:
 
On the Bounce Back from the First Half: "I liked the fact that we kept focused and didn't worry about what the score was, it was more about us and what we were doing and how we were doing it. When we stopped thinking so much and played, we looked a lot better."
 
On Three Players in Double Digits: "I would love to have three or four in double figures at least every night. I think that Kapri is one of our players that we expect to be a scorer for us, but we have several other players as well that can put numbers on the board too. We'll shoot better from three, and when we do that we'll have more in double figures."