CHENEY, Wash. – The stats and results won't count, but the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team got its first taste of the 2019-20 season tonight. The Eagles hosted the visiting Northwest University Eagles and cruised to a 78-44 victory on Wednesday evening (Oct. 30).
 
Eastern had three players in double figures, led by freshman Kennedy Dickie with 24 points. Bella Cravens and Leya DePriest finished with 13 each as the Eagles shot 47.8 percent (32-67) from the floor with 44 rebounds, seven blocks and 22 assists.
 
"Overall, it was good for us to be able to run our stuff against somebody else and to guard somebody else. I saw some good things and some things that I definitely know we can get better at," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "We didn't shoot from three especially well, and I know that's something we can improve on immediately. I thought we got good shots, it's just a matter of knocking them down. Defensively, I was impressed with our effort. There's always going to be some breakdowns, but as a whole I thought we did a really great job."
 
The Eagles held an 18-12 lead after the first quarter, shooting 40 percent from the field. Eastern was able to hold Northwest without a field goal for over three minutes during the opening period.
 
Eastern Washington cruised along on a 10-0 run during the second quarter to open a 25-14 lead over NU. They shot 52.9 percent from the field during the second frame and allowed the visitors to score just nine points to take a 40-21 lead into the half.
 
Offensively, the Eagles were clicking during the third quarter. After opening the quarter with seven-straight unanswered points, they cruised along on a 13-3 run over the final 4:21 of the period. Dickie would turn in 10 of her 24 points during the third quarter.
 
The Eagles saved the best quarter for last, shooting 53.8 percent from the field on 7-13 shooting. Brittany Klaman opened the scoring in the fourth with four-straight points and the Eagles were off from there on a 12-0 run. EWU opened its largest lead in the fourth too, pulling ahead by 42 with 4:20 remaining.
 
However, the visiting Eagles got the final say as they held Eastern scoreless for the last two minutes of play to close on a 6-0 run. The spurt was not enough to catch Eastern Washington as the Eagles claimed a 78-44 exhibition victory.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Freshman Kennedy Dickie led all scorers with 24 points on 10-for-20 shooting from the field, including a trio of three-pointers.
 
Both Bella Cravens and Leya DePriest added 13 points, with Cravens one rebound short of a double-double with nine to lead the team. Cravens also had two blocks.
 
Jessica McDowell-White dished out a team-high eight assists while leading the team with four steals. Grace Kirscher had seven rebounds, five assists, three steals, two blocks and eight points off the bench.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles shot 47.8 percent from the field on 32-for-67 shooting. They also totaled 22 assists to only 14 turnovers and had 16 steals and seven blocks.
 
They out-rebounded the visiting Eagles 44-to-39 and forced 23 turnovers.
 
Northwest shot 22.8 percent from the field on 13-for-57 shooting.
 
UP NEXT: Tonight marks Eastern's one and only exhibition as the stats and results won't count moving forward. The Eagles officially open the 2019-20 season on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at Stanford at 7 p.m. Eastern Washington will be back at home on Dec. 1 to host Pepperdine for a 1:05 p.m. tip.