CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team battled with Northern Arizona tonight (Feb. 3) at Reese Court. Despite three in double figures, led by Kennedy Dickie's double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds, the Eagles fell 70-62.
 
"I thought we played hard and I thought we fought. In the third quarter when they went on a little run, it was good to see us show some resilience and fight our way back into things by making some shots and getting big stops. We just have to be able to do that for 40 minutes; it's part of our growth and the process for us in terms as getting better as a group," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "I thought we played extremely hard and had a much better effort on the glass. We were much better rebounding wise today than we have been, we just have to find ways to close it out."
 
In a low scoring first quarter, the Eagles used an 11-2 run to lead 13-8 after the first 10 minutes. Both Kennedy Dickie and Grace Kirscher contributed with four points each as the Eagles held Northern Arizona to just 26.7 percent from the field.
 
The Lumberjacks came out on an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 16-13, to open the second. The Eagles answered back after a corner triple from Kirscher and the game eventually moved into an 18-18 tie. EWU then used an 8-0 run of their own to take a 26-18 lead back, but it was all Northern Arizona from there as they used a 13-3 run to take a 34-33 lead into the half.
 
Northern Arizona opened the second half with a 9-0 run for their largest lead of the game, 43-33, and the Eagles had to play catchup from there.
 
With three minutes remaining in the quarter, Dick cashed in on a three-pointer from the top of the arc and it would spark an 11-0 run in just over a minute and thirty seconds to tie the game 50-50. With less than a minute remaining, NAU snapped the run to retake the lead, but it didn't last for long as Dickie hit a triple with :36 left and the game was knotted at 53-53 with a quarter to play.
 
Eastern found the lead again with 5:51 left, but NAU cruised on a 13-0 run to pull ahead 69-58 as the Eagles remained scoreless for nearly five minutes. Eastern closed the quarter on a 4-1 run, but the spark came too late as they fell 70-62.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: The loss snaps a five-game winning streak over the Lumberjacks, as the Eagles drop to 2-17 overall and 1-9 in conference play and Northern Arizona improves to 11-9 and 8-3.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Three scored in double figures for the Eagles, led by Kennedy Dickie who turned in the first double-double of her career with 16 points and 14 rebounds. She also led the team with two steals and had a block.
 
Jenna Dick also added 16 points with four three-pointers. Grace Kirscher led the team in scoring with 17 points on 7-for-13 from the field.
 
Jessica McDowell-White led the way with four assists while Bella Cravens had two blocks and seven rebounds.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington shot 39.1 percent from the field (25-64), 32.1 percent from three-point range (9-28) and 60 percent from the charity stripe (3-5).
 
Northern Arizona shot 45 percent from the field (27-60), 33.3 percent from behind the arc (5-15) and 84.6 percent from the free throw line (11-13).
 
The Lumberjacks had the slight edge in rebounds, 38-to-35. NAU also only had 10 turnovers to 23 assists while the Eagles had 14 turnovers and 12 assists.
 
UP NEXT: The second half of Big Sky play gets underway on Feb. 6 at Reese Court when Montana comes to town for Kid's Day and a special 11 a.m. tip. Admission is free.
 
On Saturday, Feb. 8, Eastern Washington heads to Montana State to try and avenge a double-overtime loss from earlier this season.