SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team are now the winners of three-straight after defeating Sacramento State on the road tonight (Feb. 28) with a 71-62 victory.
 
With three regular season games remaining, the Eagles improve to 10-16 overall and 9-8 in Big Sky Conference play. They close out February with a 5-2 record and have won five out of their last six games.
 
Eastern Washington had four in double figures for the third-straight game as Violet Kapri Morrow led the Eagles with 21 points on 8-for-16 from the field. Jessica McDowell-White followed with 12 points after shooting 3-for-5 from three-point range. Alissa Sealby (11) and Andie Easley (10) rounded out the double digit scoring.
 
Bella Cravens was on a near triple-double watch as she led the way with a career-high 15 rebounds and five blocks to go with seven points.
 
Eastern made 11 three-pointers and shot 39.7 percent (25-63) from the field while holding the Hornets to 34.9 percent (22-63).
 
"It took us a few minutes to shake off the jet lag from a long day yesterday, but I thought once we got going we really played well as a team," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "Defensively, it was good to see us lockdown and guard the way we guarded today. Violet Kapri Morrow stepped up and really played like a senior and made senior shots when she needed to. Bella Cravens was an absolute beast on the glass for us."
 
Both teams started out sluggish offensively, as Eastern Washington only made two of its first 10 attempts from the field and the Hornets made three. A Jessica McDowell-White three-pointer, her second of the quarter, help Eastern lead 10-8. The Hornets then used a 9-2 run to lead 18-10. The Eagles kept Sacramento State off the board for the final two minutes and closed the opening frame on a 5-0 run, but trailed 18-17 after the first quarter.
 
Tied 24-24 midway through the second quarter, the Eagles used an 8-1 run to open their largest lead of the night, 31-25. From there, both teams would fall cold and were without a field goal for the final three minutes of play. Despite the scoring drought, Eastern Washington held a 31-27 lead going into the locker room after outscoring the Hornets 14-to-9 in the second quarter.
 
The offensive lull carried into the third quarter, as Eastern was unable to score until the 6:20 mark but still lead 34-31. The lull did not last long, as the Eagles exploded for 14 unanswered points and used a 15-2 run to lead 52-39 at the end of the third quarter. Morrow, Cravens and Howard all had six points in the third period as Eastern outscored Sacramento State 21-to-12 and shot 40 percent (6-15) from the field while the Hornets were held to 25 percent (4-16).
 
Sacramento State came storming back in the fourth frame, scoring 10-straight points to cut Eastern's lead to 52-49. Eastern Washington didn't score until the 6:42 mark, but used a 5-0 run to pull back ahead 57-49. Separate scoring runs of five and seven unanswered points from the Eagles gave them a 69-57 lead with 1:06 to go. The Hornets got as close as seven points with less than minute remaining, but Morrow would deliver two free throws to seal the 71-62 road victory.
 
"We understand what this time of year is about and we really want to be playing our best basketball in the next couple weeks, so it's up to us to get some rest and regroup quickly for a very tough Portland State team on Saturday," added Schuller."
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the victory, Eastern Washington improves to 10-16 overall and 9-8 in Big Sky play. Sacramento State falls to 10-15 and 6-11.
 
The Hornets and the Eagles split the season series after Eastern lost to Sacramento State by a score of 73-70 back on Jan. 26 in Cheney. Eastern Washington has won six out of the last seven matchups and now lead the all-time series 35-17. In Sacramento, EWU improves to 17-6 all-time.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Violet Kapri Morrow increased her double-digit scoring streak to 24 games this season and 27 dating back to last year. She led the Eagles with 21 points, her ninth 20-point performance of the year. The senior was 8-for-16 from the field, 2-for-6 from three-point range and 3-for-3 from the free throw line with an assist and two steals.
 
Bella Cravens grabbed 15 rebounds, a career-high and the most by an Eagle this year. Additionally, she swatted a career-high five shots and now has 12-straight games with at least one block. She's collected over three blocks in the last four games.
 
Jessica McDowell-White followed with 12 points after draining three of five three-point attempts to go with three assists. She now has 40 three-pointers on the season which is currently the fifth-most by a freshman in program history.
 
Alissa Sealby had 11 points for her 11^th game in double figures this year. She made three three-pointers for the second-straight game.
 
Andie Easley rounded out the scoring with 10 points on 4-for-9 from the field and 2-for-4 from three-point range while leading the team with three assists.
 
Uriah Howard led the team with four assists and had eight points, a block and a steal.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington shot 39.7 percent (25-63) from the field, 11-for-29 from three-point range (37.9%) and were 10-for-14 from the free throw line.
 
They held Sacramento State to 34.9 percent (22-63) while out-rebounding the Hornets 42-to-40. The Hornets made nine three pointers.
 
Both teams were even with 14 turnovers each, but EWU had 15 assists to Sacramento State's 13. Eastern had nine blocks and eight steals while Sacramento State had eight and four, respectively.
 
Eastern's bench added 28 points.
 
1,000-POINTS AND COUNTING: On Jan. 10, 2019 in a road victory at Montana, senior Violet Kapri Morrow became the 18th member of Eastern Washington's 1,000-point club. Needing just seven points at the beginning of the night, Morrow scored 17 points to reach the milestone.
 
She began the season with 800 career points and took just 106 career games to join the club, the 15th-fastest in program history. The Tacoma, Wash., native is the first player to reach the milestone since Delaney Hodgins during the 2016-17 season.
 
After 21-point performance tonight in Sacramento, Morrow now has 1,259 career points and counting, which is eighth all-time on Eastern's career scoring list, needing 31 more to move into seventh to pass Vanessa Jones (1989-92) after beginning the season in 30th. She averages 19.1 points per game.
 
Morrow also needs just two more rebounds to become the 11th player in Eastern history to record 1,000 pts / 500 rebounds in a career. Additionally, two more rebounds would make her the eighth player in EWU history with 1,000 points / 500 rebounds / 100 assists. She averages 6.4 rebounds per game and has 136 career assists.
 
UP NEXT: The final regular season road game of the season takes place on Saturday (March 2) at Portland State for a 2 p.m. tip. The Eagles are looking to avenge a 76-64 loss earlier this season on Jan. 24.
 
The Vikings (20-6, 12-5) hosted Idaho tonight and lost 81-68.