GAME NOTES

CHENEY, Wash. – What is sure to be an unprecedented season finally gets underway for the Eastern Washington women's basketball team this week. Under 20^th-year head coach Wendy Schuller, the Eagles welcome Big Sky Conference foes Northern Arizona to town for a pair of games on Dec. 5 and 6, with noon tip-offs set for both games.
 
HOW TO WATCH: Both contests will be streamed for free on Pluto TV Ch. 1053 with live stats available on EWUStats.com. Live, in-game, updates can also be found by following @EWUWBB on Twitter.
 
As a reminder, no fans will be permitted to attend home basketball games due to institutional, regional and state guidelines concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
WELCOME BACK: The Eagles return three of their five starters this year in junior Grace Kirscher and sophomores, Jenna Dick and Kennedy Dickie.
 
Kirscher, who earned an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky nod as freshman, was the team's leading scorer last year with 10.7 points per game. Entering her junior season, she has made 106 career three-pointers and is just 15 away from cracking EWU's top-ten list for career three-point field goals.
 
Both Dick and Dickie return after strong freshmen campaigns, and with them comes a spark behind the arc. Dick set an EWU freshman record last season with 70 made three-pointers, which is also the fourth-most in single-season history. She ranked in the top-15 nationally in three-point field goal percentage (44.3%) and averaged 9.6 points per game.
 
Dickie averaged 9.5 points per game last season and was second on the team in rebounding with 5.0 per contest.
 
Together, the trio of returning starters combined for 166 of the team's 243 three-pointers.
 
Also returning for the Eagles is sophomore Alexyss Newman, redshirt-sophomores Tatiana Reese and Milly Knowles, and lone senior Cailyn Francis. Redshirt-freshman Gabrielle Jung is also back.
 
NEW EAGS: Eastern Washington has eight new faces on this year's roster, made up of five true freshmen and three junior transfers.
 
Aaliyah Alexander (Federal Way, Wash. / Todd Beamer HS), Maisie Burnham (Spangle, Wash. / Liberty HS), Núria Cunill (Berga, Spain / Institut Guillem de Bergueda), Bella Pedrojetti (Medford, Ore. / South Medford HS) and Kallie Schaplow (Toledo, Wash. / Toledo HS) make up the core of true freshman.

 The Eagles will also find depth in junior transfers Megan Fossen (Medford, Ore. / Lane CC), Tarryn Hart (Wapato, Wash. / Yakima CC) and Britt Van Buren (Santa Paula, Calif. / Moorpark College).
 
The coaching staff also has two new faces in assistant coaches Shannon Donegan and Nicole Mitchell, who being their first seasons as Eagles. Bryce Currie, who is in his seventh season on staff, was also elevated to Associate Coach during the offseason.
 
IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS: This season, Coach Schuller and the entire EWU athletic department also celebrates Schuller's 20^th season at Eastern Washington. In addition to making impacts on hundreds of Eagles throughout her tenure, she has seen success on the court.
 
The Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 2009-10, Schuller has coached in 576 games at Eastern Washington and is the longest tenured coach in the league. She has coached two Big Sky MVP's, three defensive MVP's, two Freshmen of the Year, and one Newcomer and Top Reserve of the year to go with 43 other All-Big Sky honors, an Olympian and two all-time EWU leading scorers.
 
Off the court, Schuller has put an emphasis on community service and academics. Her teams have averaged 275 hours of community service each season and have been recognized on the WBCA Academic Top 25 Honor Roll in 16 out of the last 19 seasons.

BIG SKY AND SEASON OPENERS: The slate of games this weekend mark EWU's season, home and Big Sky Conference openers all in one. The Eagles have won two-straight Big Sky openers and are 23-15 all-time (.605) in their first conference games. In BSC openers against Northern Arizona, EWU is 4-3. It's the first time since 2008-09 that the Lumberjacks and Eagles have faced off in an openers. The Eagles won 70-64 in overtime at Reese Court.

The Eagles have dropped the last four season openers, with the last win coming on Nov. 13, 2015 against Eastern Oregon.
 
A LOOK AT THE LUMBERJACKS: Northern Arizona is off to a 1-1 start so far this season after picking up a 79-75 win to open their season at UNLV on Nov. 25. Four days later, the Lumberjacks fell to No. 7 Arizona by a score of 76-63 in Tucson.
 
NAU is led offensively by Emily Rodabaugh. She earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors after a 27-point effort at UNLV and currently averages 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Jacqulynn Nakia (19.5 ppg) and Jacey Bailey (16.0 ppg) also pace the Lumberjacks in scoring, while Regan Schenck adds 10.5 rebounds per game in the early season.
 
The Lumberjacks were picked to finish third in the Big Sky by both the conference coaches and the media. NAU finished fourth overall last year with a 12-8 conference record. They return six letterwinners from last year's squad, including Khiarica Rasheed who was named the Big Sky Preseason MVP.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Eagles dropped both meetings last season to the Lumberjacks by less than a 10-point margin, falling at home 70-62 and on the road a few weeks later, 63-58. In fact, the last four games between the two squads have been decided by eight points or less.
 
Prior to that, Eastern Washington won five-straight over Northern Arizona as the Eagles have won seven out of the last 10 meetings and are 40-28 (.588) all-time against NAU. At Reese Court, Eastern Washington is 25-9 all-time when the Lumberjacks come to town and are 25-14 overall under Schuller.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington head to Boise State for an annual match up on Dec. 10 for a 1 p.m. tip. The contest marks EWU's first road and non-conference game of the season.
 
The Eagles then return to Reese Court to host Grand Canyon (Dec. 14) and Seattle (Dec. 19). One more non-conference clash at Washington State takes place on Dec. 22 before Eastern Washington resumes Big Sky play at Portland State on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2.
 
The 2020-21 schedule is fluid and subject to change amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Please stay tuned to GoEags.com for further updates.