SPOKANE, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team took on No. 21/23 ranked Gonzaga University in front of a sold-out crowd at the McCarthey Athletic Center on Friday evening (Nov. 22).
Grace Kirscher led the Eagles with 15 points, but the Eagles fell by a final score of 84-44.
"We hit another excellent basketball team in Gonzaga tonight. They're ranked for a reason, I don't think they're ranked high enough personally, they're a really good basketball team. They have a lot of weapons, they play hard and they play together. They deserve a lot of credit tonight," said head coach
Wendy Schuller. "Honestly, I saw some better things from our team. It was far from perfect, but I thought that we played hard and that our effort and offensive execution was better. We got good shots, but we have to knock them down, you can't shoot 32 percent from the field. It was good to see
Grace Kirscher get going a little bit for us offensively and the bottom line is we have to make baskets. I thought we ran things better than we had and gave ourselves good opportunities, but we didn't finish them."
Gonzaga used an 11-0 run midway through the first to take an early lead. The Eagles were 4-10 from the field on their first 10 attempts, but trailed 23-10 after one quarter of play, led by
Leya DePriest's six points off the bench. Eastern Washington was able to hold GU to 7-of-15 from the field, but the Bulldogs made three three-point field goals to help their advantage.
The Bulldogs opened the second quarter with four unanswered points, only to have the Eagles answer with four straight of their own after
Jenna Dick nailed a floater as time expired and
Brittany Klaman made a layup.
Grace Kirscher exploded for eight points during the frame and ended the half with 10 on 2-for-2 from distance. Eastern Washington was only outscored 20-to-16 in the second but trailed 43-26 at the half. The Eagles were shooting 37 percent from the field compared to GU's 46.7.
Gonzaga opened the second half on a 9-0 run and Eastern Washington did not make a field goal until the 3:34 mark of the third quarter when Klaman hit a corner three-pointer. The Eagles were outscored 13-5 in the third frame and trailed 56-31 heading into the fourth.
Despite shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range, the Eagles were outscored 28-13 in the fourth quarter and fell 84-44 as the final whistle blew.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington drops to 0-4 on the year while Gonzaga improves to 3-1.
TOP PERFORMANCES: Grace Kirscher led the Eagles with a season-high 15 points, her 18th career game in double figures as a sophomore. She was 6-for-10 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point range.
Leya DePriest finished with seven points and four rebounds, while
Bella Cravens led the team with six boards.
Both
Jessica McDowell-White and
Jenna Dick had two steals, while McDowell-White led the team with four assists.
Brittany Klaman had the team's lone block.
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington shot 32.1 percent on the night, going 18-for-56 from field goal range, 5-for-23 from a distance and 3-for-9 from the free throw line.
Gonzaga shot 51.7 percent on the night, knocking down 31 of their 60 attempts from the field. Fifteen of their points came from the free throw line to go with seven made three pointers.
Turnovers troubled the Eagles, as they committed 20 and Gonzaga scored 21 points off of them. Eastern Washington was also out-rebounded 40-to-30.
UP NEXT: The Eagles take Reese Court for the first time this season on Sunday, Dec. 1 when they host another WCC opponent in Pepperdine. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
For tickets, visit GoEags.com/tickets.
