LAHAINA, Hawaii – In the final game of the Maui Classic and the non-conference season, the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team fell to UC Riverside, 57-45. The Eagles were led by a pair of double-digit scorers in Jessica McDowell-White (13) and Alissa Sealby (11).

"We had some offensive woes today in terms of shooting the ball. I thought we did a better job of taking care of it, but we really need to have higher efficiency offensively," said head coach Wendy Schuller.
 
UC Riverside built an early 6-0 lead to open the first quarter and the Eagles would be tasked with playing catchup for the remainder of the contest. Leya DePriest hit a corner three-pointer that cut Eastern's deficit to four points, 12-8. EWU then went on a quick 5-0 run that was capped by an Alissa Sealby three-pointer that put Eastern within one point, 14-13. The Highlanders pulled back ahead by three to end the first quarter with a 16-13 lead.
 
Sealby's third three-pointer of the night gave Eastern its first lead of the game, 19-18. UC Riverside pulled back ahead and retook a 22-19 lead and held the Eagles scoreless for over five minutes of the first quarter. However, the EWU defense was also locked in and kept the Highlanders off of the board for the final 4:40 of the half. Uriah Howard ended the drought with a layup that put Eastern within one point heading into the locker room, 22-21.
 
A three-point field goal from Uriah Howard tied the game up at 24-24 all before UC Riverside used a 6-0 run to lead 30-24 and eventually built a lead to nine points. Amira Chandler made a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to five points, 35-30, but the Highlanders continued to pull ahead. Despite keeping UC Riverside without a field goal for the final four minutes, the Eagles trailed 41-32 after three quarters.
 
The Highlanders built their largest advantage in the fourth quarter, leading 50-34. Jessica McDowell-White made back-to-back three-pointers to cap off a 7-0 run that dwindled Eastern's deficit back down to single digits, 50-41. McDowell-White would make one more three-pointer during the quarter to cut the score to 54-44, but the late comeback fell short as Eastern dropped the contest to UC Riverside, 57-45.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Senior Alissa Sealby was named to the Maui Classic All-Tournament team for her performances this weekend. In addition to a career-high 11 points tonight, Sealby scored eight against Oregon State for an average of 9.5 points per game of the two tournament matchups. She also was active on the boards, grabbing five on Friday and seven tonight for an average of 6.0 per contest. She shot 41.2 percent on the weekend, going 7-for-17 from the field and shooting over 40 percent in each contest alone. Additionally, Sealby was 4-for-8 from beyond the arc, including a new career best three three-point field goals against UC Riverside.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern wraps up the non-conference season with an overall record of 1-8. UC Riverside improves to 3-7 on the year.
 
This was EWU's first loss to UC Riverside in program history in their first meeting since Dec. 16, 2003. The Eagles had won the previous two meetings at home in Cheney in back-to-back seasons.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: For the second time this season, Jessica McDowell-White led the team in scoring with 13 points. The freshman made four three-pointers and also led the team with three assists.
 
Alissa Sealby was the other Eagle in double figures, tying her career-high of 11 points for the second time this season. Sealby led the team with seven rebounds along with Uriah Howard who also had seven boards and three steals to lead the team.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington shot a season-low 27.1 percent (16-59) from the field and were 9-of-25 from three-point range. The Highlanders shot 48 percent on 23-of-48, but were 0-for-7 from behind the arc.
 
Eastern forced 17 turnovers with eight steals, but committed 15. EWU was also outrebounded 43-to-30. The Highlanders had nine blocks and were 11-of-18 from the free throw line to Eastern's 4-of-8.
 
UP NEXT: Tonight's game concluded the non-conference season for the Eagles, but the six-game road trip continues. After a short break for the holidays, Eastern resumes competition on Dec. 29 at Weber State and Dec. 31 at Idaho State for the start of Big Sky Conference play.