GAME NOTES
CHENEY, Wash. – The 2020-21 regular season is winding down for the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team. The Eagles will play two of their final regular season games this week against the University of Montana. Eastern will head to Montana for a 6 p.m. Pacific time match-up on Thursday, Feb. 18, before hosting the Grizzlies on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 12:05 p.m. for the last home game of the season.
Thursday's game will be streamed on Pluto TV Ch. 1056 with Saturday's game on Pluto TV Ch. 1053.
The Eagles are 6-13 overall with a 5-9 mark in Big Sky Conference play and look to get back on track after dropping a pair of games at home to Montana State last week. Montana is 10-7 overall with a 7-5 mark in conference action and are on a three-game winning streak after beating Weber State on the road last time out.
Eastern Washington averages 64.1 points and 33.8 rebounds per game. They rank 52
nd in the nation with 133 made three-pointers and average 7.0 per contest which is 92
nd. At the charity stripe, the Eagles make 76.5 percent of their attempts which is 26
th nationally.
Maisie Burnham leads the Eagles with 14.1 points per contest as a freshman which is seventh in the Big Sky. In conference-only games, Burnham is averaging 15.4 which is second. She also paces the Eagles with 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Burnham makes 42.7 percent of her field goal attempts and has scored in double figures in 13 out of the last 14 games.
Fellow freshman
Aaliyah Alexander follows with 11.3 points per contest while leading the team in assists with 3.2 per game.
Kennedy Dickie (11.0) and
Grace Kirscher (10.8) also average double figures while
Jenna Dick adds 8.7.
Montana has three that average double figures in Carmen Gfeller (14.7), Abby Anderson (11.4) and Sophia Stiles (10.6). Gfeller leads the conference in field goal percentage, draining 54.1 percent (99-183) of her attempts from the field.
The Grizzlies average 67.4 points per game and are second in the conference in field goal defense, holding their opponents to just 36 percent from the field including 31 percent from three-point range. Montana also averages 40.5 rebounds per game.
Eastern Washington trails the all-time series against Montana, 18-66, but have won six out of the last 10 games. From January of 2016 to February of 2019, Eastern Washington won six-straight over the Griz, but were swept in the series meetings last season. The Eagles lost 92-54 on Jan. 9, 2020 in Missoula and then again on Feb. 6, 2020 by a score of 77-56 at home.
At Reese Court, Eastern is 12-25 overall and on the road they are 6-39.
The Eagles have a bye-week after this pair of matches. They'll resume competition with their final regular season games on Wednesday, March 3 and Friday, March 5 at Idaho State. Both games are set for 6 p.m. Pacific time on Pluto TV Ch. 1061.
