The 2021-22 season ended for Eastern Washington women's basketball on Monday afternoon, as the team dropped its Big Sky Tournament first-round matchup against Northern Colorado, 64-45. Eastern struggled to create a rhythm on offense and keep up with the hot-shooting Bears.

"Obviously, we are really disappointed in the outcome of the game. We came here to try and make some noise, but you have to tip your hat to Northern Colorado. They hit their shots and we did not," head coach Joddie Gleason said. "It comes down to that. They knocked down their open looks and we did not execute enough to knock those down."

Jaydia Martin scored a team best, 14 points on 4-of-13(30.7%) shooting and 2-of-4(50%) from three. Jacinta Buckley scored 12 points on 5-of-12(41.6%) shooting and had eight rebounds

"I definitely think we achieved a lot this season," freshman guard Jaydia Martin said. "At the beginning of the season, our offense wasn't flowing at all. We built chemistry and our team has come together. We got good looks offensively and played really good defense. I think we have brought it all together at the end of the season."

"I think that we are a completely different team than who we were from the beginning," sophomore guard Jacinta Buckley said. "That's really excited to look forward to and we had a lot of growth."

It was tough go of for Eastern Washington in the first quarter, missing their first seven shots of the game. UNC took advantage and started out with a 6-0 lead after three minutes of game time. Alexis Pettis came off the bench and connected for two for the team's first points of the game. The Bears kept up the pressure, extending their lead to 11-2 and prompting an Eastern timeout. At the 4:24 minute mark, The Eagles started to find their groove on offense, as Pettis connected on another shot and Martin drove in for a layup. After a UNC score, Martin ended the quarter with her first three-pointer of the game and Eastern trailed 15-11 after one. The Eagles shot 26.3 percent in the quarter and UNC was at a blistering 63.6 shooting percentage.

Starting the second quarter, the Bears offense continued to produce, scoring the first five points of the quarter. Jacinta Buckley's layup put Eastern on the board in the quarter and seemed to spark the offense. Milly Knowles would take the feed inside from Buckley and score the easy layup. Jaleesa Lawrence would take the kick-out from Bria Rice and drain a three-point shot to pull the Eagles to 26-21 and the media timeout at 4:16. UNC countered with an 8-0 run over the rest of the quarter to build a double-digit lead. Eastern trailed 34-21 at halftime and shot 25 percent in the quarter. UNC shot 46.7 percent from the floor in the quarter.

Buckley started the second half with a quick layup to give the Eagles their first points in five minutes. UNC pushed its lead out to 16 with a three-point shot and its largest lead of the game at 6:41 on the clock. Eastern organized a 6-0 burst to pull the score back to 11 and keep the team in the game. The Bears would convert two free throws to bring the lead back to 13. At the end of three, Eastern trailed 46-33 with one quarter to go. The Eagles were 29.4 percent shooting from the floor and held UNC to 25 percent shooting.

Eastern started the fourth quarter with a pair of free-throws form Martin. The Bears then went on a 7-0 run to build an 18-point lead at 53-35 and 7:59 left in the game. Martin continued to score in the quarter, but UNC answered every score. The Bears were able to further establish an inside-outside game to keep the Eastern defense off balance. UNC went on to win the game, 64-45, ending the Eagles season.

Eastern Washington finished shooting 27 percent from the floor, with the Bears recording a 44 percent mark. The Eagles end the season with a 9-21 overall record.

"I think that both [Martin and Buckley] are really humble and you can see that they just work," Gleason said of her two young guards. "They're coachable and they want to win, along with being competitive. I think competitive people move to the top and I think that's why they won awards. They are both talented, but they come out here and win. They watch film in the office and try to get better."

Top Performances
Jaydia Martin recorded her 27th double-digit scoring game this season against the Bears.

Jacinta Buckley notched her 20th game scoring in double figures and nearly matched her per game average in rebounds(8.5).

Milly Knowles scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds, and had a game-high, four assists.

Key Statistics
Eastern Washington matched their season low in turnovers, committing only seven.

Eastern was 3-of-21(14.3%) from three-point range.

The Eagles had a 30-20 scoring advantage in the paint despite being outrebounded in the game.

Northern Colorado had four players score in double figures.

Eastern had an 8-5 advantage in fast break scoring.