BOISE, Idaho – A historic tournament run for the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team came to a heartbreaking end in today's (March 15) Big Sky Conference Championship game. The No. 6 Eagles fell to No. 4 Portland State in the final four seconds by a score of 61-59.
 
Eastern Washington led for over 29 minutes of the contest, including a seven-point (57-50) lead with 5:35 to go in the fourth quarter. From there, Portland State used a 9-0 run to take a 59-57 lead with 1:50 left on the clock. Jessica McDowell-White tied the contest with a layup with 20 seconds left, but PSU's Desirae Hansen hit the game-winning shot with four seconds on the clock to send the Vikings to the NCAA Tournament.
 
As close as they come during a championship, the game held 10 lead changes and nine ties. Eastern Washington had two in double figures, led by senior Alissa Sealby's 15 points and Jessica McDowell-White's 14. McDowell-White scored in double figures in all four tournament games and was named to the All-Big Sky Tournament team along with teammate Violet Kapri Morrow.
 
"First, congratulations to Portland State. They played a terrific game and had a great run this tournament. I feel like my heart has been ripped out my chest right now, obviously," said an understandably emotional head coach Wendy Schuller. "Our seniors and the rest of this team laid it out there like I've never seen a team lay it out there for four games in a row. I couldn't be prouder to be their coach and honestly, I just feel really bad that I couldn't get them to the NCAA Tournament. They deserved it and worked so hard for it, and I feel bad I couldn't get them there."
 
The Eagles jumped out to a 6-2 lead thanks to two three-pointers from Violet Kapri Morrow. It took time for both teams to settle in, as they were each 2-for-8 from the field on their first 10 shot attempts. Portland State heated up first and used a 9-0 run to pull ahead 11-6.
 
Eastern Washington responded. After Amira Chandler snapped the scoring drought and hit a jumper, Grace Kirscher grabbed a steal from midcourt and cashed in the fast break layup. She was fouled and made the free throw attempt and the Eagles continued on a 9-0 run to give the Eagles a 15-11 advantage after one quarter of play.
 
The run carried into the second quarter when Alissa Sealby hit a jumper to make it 11 unanswered points for Eastern Washington. The Eagles built a 22-16 leads after keeping PSU off of the board for 2:27. The Vikings kept pestering and tied the game 22-22 after the Eagles went 1-for-10 from the field and were scoreless for 3:00.
 
Jessica McDowell-White then made consecutive three-pointers, she would total three in all during the first half, to build a 28-24 lead. With less than a minute remaining, Portland State would take its first lead since the second quarter, 29-28. After Kirscher hit a jumper, the Vikings responded once more to lead 31-30. Eastern Washington would get the last say however, as Sealby drained a three-pointer with four seconds left to give Eastern a 33-31 lead at the half.
 
Portland State took a brief 38-37 lead early in the third quarter when the Eagles used a 10-4 run, capped by a Bella Cravens layup, to go up 47-42. From there, neither teams scored for nearly three minutes. Eastern Washington ran into some turnover trouble as Portland State cut the lead to 47-46. EWU closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to lead 51-46 heading into the fourth.
 
Eastern built a 57-50 lead, its largest advantage of the night, by using a 6-0 run. However, they were outscored 15-to-8 in the final frame and only shot 30 percent (3-10) from the field. After Hansen made what would be the game-winning shot, the Eagles called timeout and advanced the ball to their sideline but could not capitalize on any opportunities, falling by two points in their first Big Sky title game in 31 seasons.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington wraps up the 2018-19 season with an overall record of 13-20. The Eagles lost their final three regular season games, but knocked of  No. 11 Weber State (70-66), No. 3 Idaho State (61-59, OT) and No. 2 Northern Colorado (59-57) en route to the championship.
 
Portland State advances to its first NCAA Tournament since 2011 with an overall record of 25-7.
 
This is the second year in a row that the Vikings have ended the Eagles' season, as they upset them in the Big Sky quarterfinals a year ago. Portland State took both regular season meetings.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Senior Alissa Sealby led the Eagles with 15 points and four assists in her final game. She was 6-for-13 from the field and made three three-pointers.
 
Jessica McDowell-White followed with 14 points on 5-for-11 from the field with four three-pointers. She also had three assists.
 
Violet Kapri Morrow and Grace Kirscher finished with nine points. Morrow led the team with eight rebounds along with Bella Cravens who scored eight points, including an unblemished 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington was 22-for-57 from the field and 9-for-22 from three-point range while shooting 85.7 percent (6-7) from the free throw line.
 
EWU was out-rebounded 38-to-33 and out-scored 32-to-12 in the paint.
 
Portland State shot 41.4 percent from the field (24-58) and were just 4-for-19 from deep. Additionally, they made nine of their 11 free throw attempts.
 
1,357-POINTS: Senior Violet Kapri Morrow ends her storied career with Eastern Washington seventh on the all-time scoring list, just 31 points away from sixth. She finishes with 1,357 career points, 545 rebounds and 145 assists, just the eighth player in program history to garner over 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 assists in a career.