SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team took on the Utah Utes tonight (Nov. 18) in Salt Lake City. Brittany Klaman led the team with 10 points as the Eagles dropped the contest 87-49.

"Utah is a talented team who had suffered some tough losses in the last two weeks and we knew they were going to come out with all cylinders firing," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "I thought we got off to a good start, but then struggled defensively keeping them on a side like we wanted to. We will get home tomorrow and get back to work. One positive I saw was some really good things out of our young players when we needed a boost."
 
The Eagles scored five quick points and were 4-for-10 from the floor to open the game. At the media timeout, Eastern Washington trailed 14-9 before being held scoreless for six minutes of the first quarter while the Utes scored nine unanswered. After ten minutes of play, the Eagles trailed 22-12.
 
Utah opened the second frame on a 7-0 run until a Brittany Klaman three snapped the scoring spree. Eastern Washington relied on their perimeter shooting as they made three three-point field goals during the second quarter, two of which came from Jessica McDowell-White, who scored seven points during the period. The Eagles were outscored 23-14 during the second and trailed 45-26 at the half.
 
The Utes opened the third on a 16-1 run before a layup from Alexyss Newman snapped it. The Eagles had to play catch up from there and trailed 68-35 after three quarters.
 
Eastern Washington hung with Utah during the fourth, only being outscored 19-14 on 4-for-13 from the field compared to the Utes' 7-for-17. Newman would add another four points during the frame to end the night with a career-high nine. Utah ended the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run en route to the 87-49 victory.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington falls to 0-3 on the young season while Utah improves to 3-1.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Brittany Klaman led the team with a season-high 10 points to go with four assists. Freshman Alexyss Newman followed with a career-best nine points on 3-for-9 shooting from the field and three rebounds.
 
Jessica McDowell-White led the team with five assists while also adding seven points. Freshman Jenna Dick notched a career-best seven points as well and also had a block while leading the team with two steals.
 
Grace Kirscher led the team with five rebounds while four Eagles recorded one block.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington was just 17-for-58 (29.3%) from the field and were also 7-for-27 from a distance and 8-for-15 from the free throw line. The bench added 23 points, but they were outscored 46-to-16 in the paint.
 
Utah shot 54.2 percent from the field on 32-for-59 shooting and made six three-pointers. They also made 77.3 percent of their free throws, going 17-for-22.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles stay close to home for their annual matchup with Gonzaga. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in Spokane on Friday, Nov. 22.