CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team topped Southern Utah by a score of 80-66 in Reese Court on Thursday night (Feb. 21).
 
The Eagles had a season-high five in double figures, led by Grace Kirscher's 16 points. Fellow freshman Jessica McDowell-White added 14 while also leading the team with five assists. Violet Kapri Morrow turned in her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds while extending her double-digit scoring streak to 25-straight games dating back to last season.
 
Andie Easley scored 11 points off the bench and paced Eastern with four steals, while Uriah Howard rounded out the scoring with 10 points. Bella Cravens led the way with four blocks.
 
As a team, the Eagles shot 52.8 percent (28-53) from the field with 10 three-pointers. Eastern's bench added 41 points while the team swatted a season-best 10 blocks. Eastern held Southern Utah to 36.8 percent from the field and out-rebounded them, 40 to 30.
 
"We had a tough loss at Southern Utah earlier this season, we were lethargic and they really punched us in the mouth, so we knew they were going to come after us today and we need to do a good job on both ends on the floor. I was concerned in the first five minutes with our only score being a banked three, but once we got ourselves going I thought we looked smooth and did some things nice offensively for the most part," said head coach Wendy Schuller on her team's bounce-back victory after a tough loss to Idaho on Monday. "More than anything, I'm proud of our team. It's been an emotional few days and they have banded together and continue to work hard in practice and with film to get to the place we're trying to get to. We're continuing to take steps forward and I'm really proud of the team and what they showed me this week."
 
Grace Kirscher opened up the game with a banked three-pointer, but otherwise the Eagles were off to a slow start as Southern Utah scored eight unanswered points. Eastern started heating up and closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run of their own to lead 18-14 at the end of the first quarter. The Eagles never looked back and lead for the remainder of the game.
 
Southern Utah kept it close as the Eagles only outscored them 12-to-10 in the second quarter but Eastern Washington was still able to take a 30-64 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
The Eagles came out and made nine of their 15 attempts from the field including a trio of three pointers in the third. Eastern made five-straight field goal attempts late in the third frame, led by five points from Kirscher, and led 53-39 after three quarters.
 
Both teams scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles were able to stay out front, draining 72.7 percent of their shots from the field (8-11). Eastern closed the game on a 9-4 run, led by six points from Jessica McDowell-White, en route to its largest Big Sky Conference victory of the season, 80-66.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the win, Eastern Washington improves to 8-16 overall and 7-8 in conference play. Southern Utah drops to 6-19 and 3-13.
 
Eastern Washington leads the all-time series over Southern Utah, 12-8 and have now won three out of the last four meetings. The Eagles also improve to 6-4 all-time over the Thunderbirds at Reese Court.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Freshman Grace Kirscher led the Eagles in scoring for the second-straight game with 16 points. She was 6-for-9 from the field including 4-for-7 from three-point range.
 
Jessica McDowell-White scored in double figures for the first time since Boise State (Dec. 7) with 14 points off the bench, just one shy of her career-high. She also led the team with five assists and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
 
Violet Kapri Morrow picked up her second-straight double-double, the fourth of the season and sixth of her career, with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She was 5-for-10 from the field and added three assists in her 25^th-straight game in double figures.
 
Andie Easley scored in double figures for the third time in her career, adding 11 points off the bench while leading the team with four steals.
 
Uriah Howard was 4-for-6 from the field with two three-pointers and scored 10 points while adding two blocks.
 
Bella Cravens led the Eagles with four blocks for the second-straight game. She has now blocked at least one shot in 10-straight games.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles shot 52.8 percent from the field, draining 28 of their 53 attempts. They also made 10 three-pointers and were 14-for-21 from the free throw line.
 
Eastern Washington held Southern Utah to just 36.8 percent from the field (25-68) and the Thunderbirds only made four of their 15 three-point attempts and were 12-for-17 from the line.
 
EWU outblocked the Thunderbirds 10 to one. It was the first time Eastern has had that many blocks since they had seven against Southern Utah on Jan. 20, 2018. Additionally, Eastern out-rebounded SUU 40 to 30 and the EWU bench added 41 points to Southern Utah's eight.
 
1,000-POINTS AND COUNTING: After becoming the newest and 18^th member of Eastern Washington's 1,000-point club at Montana on Jan. 10, 2019, Violet Kapri Morrow continues to climb EWU's all-time scoring list.
 
After scoring 12 points tonight against Southern Utah, Morrow remains in eighth all-time with 1,219 career points. She is now just 71 points from seventh.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington hosts Northern Arizona on Saturday (Feb. 23) at 2:05 p.m. The Lumberjacks are coming off of a 90-72 loss at Idaho tonight and are 9-16 in the overall and 5-11 in the Big Sky. The Eagles beat the Lumberjacks on Feb. 2 in Flagstaff by a score of 64-62.