CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team fell to Weber State in its final regular season home game of the 2018-19 season on Saturday (March 9) by a score of 70-66.
 
The contest also marked Senior Day for Amira Chandler, Violet Kapri Morrow, Baylee Rexing and Alissa Sealby. All four seniors started the contest and contributed points for the Eagles.
 
The four seniors are not done playing and the Eagles are not through with Weber State, as the two squads will face off in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament on Monday, March 11 at 7 p.m. Pacific time. Eastern Washington earned the No. 6 seed while the Wildcats are the No. 11 seed. Check back to GoEags.com later this evening (March 9) for a full pairings release.
 
It was freshman Grace Kirscher that led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points. Violet Kapri Morrow followed with 16, and moved into seventh on Eastern's all-time scoring list, while Alissa Sealby added 14. Uriah Howard rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points while also leading the team with seven rebounds.
 
"Today was a tough one. We had them down in the third quarter, but we missed some opportunities to extend the lead and we let them hang around," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "We had a rough day in terms of fouls and doubled them up with the number we committed. We have to do a better job of playing without fouling and getting to the free throw line and initiate contact. We have two days to clean things up and get back after it."
 
The Eagles made six-straight field goals and shot 66.7 percent in the first quarter, but Weber State used a 5-0 run to take an early 11-6 lead. Eastern was held scoreless for nearly two minutes and trailed 16-12 after one quarter of play.
 
Grace Kirscher gave Eastern Washington a spark with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one point, 23-22 in the second quarter. She then made two more triples to give the Eagles their first lead of the day, 28-25. The three-pointers began a 14-2 run for the Eagles and gave them a 31-25 advantage. Weber State would snap its scoring drought and closed the half on a quick 4-0 run, giving the Eagles a slight 31-30 lead at the half.
 
Kirscher scored 13 first-half points, including three three-point field goals on 5-for-9 shooting from the field.
 
After the Eagles fell behind 34-31, Kirscher and Alissa Sealby hit back-to-back three-pointers to cap off a 7-0 run and led 38-34. The Eagles were able to keep WSU off of the board for the final 3:59 of the third quarter and had a 45-40 lead with one quarter to play.
 
The fourth quarter alone saw five lead changes and a tie. After Weber State used a 9-0 run to lead 59-52, Sealby would make her fourth three-pointer of the night to put Eastern within two points with less than two minutes remaining. The Wildcats pulled back ahead and led 64-57 when Uriah Howard made a corner three-pointer to put Eastern back within striking distance.
 
With 25.7 seconds left, Violet Kapri Morrow completed the old-fashioned three-point play and the Eagles only trailed by two, 65-63. Down the stretch, Weber State made three of its four free throw attempts to pull ahead 68-63. Howard was clutch from three-point range in the corner again and with 2.6 seconds left she put the Eagles back within two points.
 
Weber State would head to the line one more time and made both free throw attempts and that was the difference maker on Senior Day as the Eagles fell 70-66.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the loss, Eastern Washington falls to 10-19 on the year and end Big Sky Conference play with a 9-11 record.
 
Weber State snapped a seven-game losing streak this afternoon and improve to 6-25 overall. The Wildcats end the conference slate 3-17.
 
The loss also snapped a four-game winning streak over Weber State as the series record now moves to 44-33 in WSU's favor.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Eastern Washington had four score in double figures, led by Grace Kirscher's 18-point performance. Kirscher was 7-for-14 from the field and made four of her eight three-point attempts. She also had four rebounds, an assist and led the team with two steals.
 
Violet Kapri Morrow finished with 16 points, three assists, two steals and was 3-for-3 from the free throw line.
 
Alissa Sealby followed with 14 points, including four three-pointers, while adding four rebounds and an assist.
 
Uriah Howard was the other Eagle to score in double digits, finishing with 10 points and leading the team with seven rebounds. She was 2-for-4 from three-point range.
 
Jessica McDowell-White had a block and led the team with four assists along with Brittany Klaman.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Weber State made 12 of its 17 free throw attempts while the Eagles were just 4-for-5.
 
The Wildcats shot 46.3 percent from the field on 25-for-54 shooting and were 8-for-21 from three-point range. The Eagles shot 40.3 percent on 25-for-62 from the field and made 12 of their 31 three-pointers.
 
Both teams had 15 turnovers each and the Eagles were out-rebounded 34-to-31. Eastern recorded eight steals and the Wildcats had six.
 
1,000-POINTS AND COUNTING: Violet Kapri Morrow reached a special milestone on Senior Day, as she moved into seventh on Eastern's all-time scoring list. Morrow passes Vanessa Jones (1989-92) and now has 1,291 career points.
 
Morrow needs 97 more points to move into sixth with at least one game remaining, but is just nine points away from becoming just the seventh Eagle to ever record over 1,300 career points.