PORTLAND, Ore. – It was déjà vu in the best sort of way for the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team today (Jan. 2), picking up its second-straight road victory over Portland State by a final score of 73-67.
 
The Eagles held a 39-23 lead at the half that was trimmed to 52-50 at the end of the third quarter. Eastern Washington used a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to earn the win, marking the first season sweep over the Vikings since 2015.
 
EWU took advantage of its opportunities at the free throw line, making 31 of its 40 attempts. The 31 made free throws is the sixth-most in single-game program history, while 40 attempts is tied for seventh.
 
Four players scored in double figures for Eastern Washington, led by Maisie Burnham who had a career-high 21 points. Kennedy Dickie followed with the second double-double of her career with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Grace Kirscher contributed with 13 points and seven assists, while Aaliyah Alexander rounded out the scoring with 12 points.
 
"I'm really proud of this team and the effort we put forward this weekend. Playing the same team twice is never easy and I thought our young team did a really good job of buying into the adjustments that we made on our off day," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "It's really fun to see everyone coming together and locking in on the things that we're trying to do. Maisie Burnham gave us great energy today and I think everyone really fed off of that effort."
 
Eastern Washington opened the game with a 6-2 lead, only to have the Vikings respond with a 9-0 run to take the 11-6 advantage. However, the Eagles would keep Portland State scoreless for the final 4:41 and, thanks to 10 first quarter points from Dickie, EWU led 16-13 at the end of the first.
 
A 6-0 run from the Eagles helped them pull ahead, 25-15, for their largest lead of the day. Eastern Washington took advantage of its opportunities at the free throw line in the second quarter, as 12 of its 23 second-quarter points came from the charity stripe, making 12 of 14 overall. After holding the Vikings to just 10 points during the frame, EWU took a healthy 39-23 lead into the locker room.
 
The Vikings opened the second half on a 13-2 run to cut Eastern's advantage to 41-36. Portland State used six three-pointers to outscore EWU 27-13 in the frame, but the Eagles still held the 52-50 advantage with a quarter to play.
 
Up by just two points with under eight minutes to play, the Eagles found their footing again, using a 12-0 run to pull back ahead 68-54 and put the Vikings away for good en route to the 73-67 victory.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington collects its second-straight victory to improve to 3-6 overall with an even 2-2 mark in Big Sky Conference play. Portland State falls to 1-3 and 0-2.
 
The win today marked EWU's first season sweep over Portland State since the 2015 season. It's win on Thursday (Dec. 31) was the first in Portland since 2017, as the Eagles now lead the all-time series 38-31.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Freshman Maisie Burnham led the Eagles in scoring for the third-straight game. After tying a career-high 16 points in Thursday's game, Burnham became the first Eagle to eclipse the 20-point mark with a new career-high of 21 points. She was 9-12 at the free throw line and collected five rebounds, two assists, a block and led EWU with four steals.
 
For the seventh-straight game, Kennedy Dickie scored in double figures with 17 points. She also earned EWU's first double-double, and the second of her career, of the season with 11 rebounds. The sophomore was 5-11 from the field, 2-4 from three-point range and 5-6 at the free throw line. Additionally, she had three steals and a block.
 
Junior Grace Kirscher scored 13 points and dished out seven assists, which is a career-high. She went 2-3 from three-point range and now just needs three more three-pointers to tie for 10^th all-time in EWU history for three-point field goals in a career.
 
Aaliyah Alexander rounded out the scoring with 12 points, going a perfect 7-7 at the free throw line with five rebounds.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles shot just 36 percent from the field on the day (18-50), but were 31 for 40 at the free throw line and 6-16 behind the arc. Portland State relied on the long ball, going 12-31 from three-point range to shoot 40 percent from the field overall (24-60).
 
The Eagles turned 21 Portland State turnovers into 24 points and out-rebounded the Vikings 25 to 33. Fifteen of EWU's 18 field goals were assisted and they scored 14 points in the paint to PSU's 16.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington returns to Reese Court to host Weber State for a pair of games next week on Jan. 7 and 9. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. and 12 p.m., respectively. A reminder that at this time, no fans are allowed to attend due to University, state and regional health guidelines. Both games will be streamed for free on Pluto TV Ch. 1053.