In front of 2500 screaming kids, Eastern Washington women's basketball delivered a show with its third-straight win today (Jan. 19). Eastern defeated Northern Colorado 49-36 on Thursday morning and improved to 4-3 in conference and 11-6 overall this season. UNC falls to 2-5 in the Big Sky and 9-9 overall.

The Eagles hosted kid's day, with students from area school districts including Spokane, Cheney, East Valley, St. John-Endicott and LaCrosse.

"It was a great environment and it's unbelievable the amount of work went in, behind the scenes, to make this happen. I'm grateful to everyone at Eastern and the local school districts for coming out for our kid's day," head coach Joddie Gleason said. "It was an unbelievable collaboration. The kid's excitement and energy really helped fuel our players today."

The Eagles allowed a season low in points and UNC managed to make only 14 field goals in the game.

"Our players have really bought into our scouts and defense the last few weeks," Gleason explained. "I think that we watch a lot film and they are more comfortable. We work on specific tendencies. They are good teaching moments. When you can hold teams to single digits in a quarter, it gives us a good chance to win, even when we were not shooting well. We knew our defense had to be consistent to win."

Jaydia Martin scored a game-high 14 points, going 5-of-12(41.7%) from the floor and 2-of-5(40.0%) from three-point range. She also led the team with seven rebounds.

"It was a really cool environment and really loud. It was great to look up and see the kid's dancing and having a good time," Martin said. "The team's ball movement got everyone open more in the second half, along with moving without the ball. We turned it up in the third quarter. We cut hard and got open for better shots. It great to have a teammate like Jamie [Loera]. She is always energetic and positive. It's fun to have her on the court. She's looking for me and we all look to her to pass the ball."

Both teams were finding their offense early in the game. Jaleesa Lawrence started the scoring off with a three-pointer. After UNC took the lead at 7-5, Jamie Loera drove into the lane and scored a layup to tie the game at 5:25 on the clock. The Bears would then take the lead on a three from Loera. The game then moved to a defensive battle, as points became hard to come by. UNC managed to score four points to close out the quarter and take an 11-10 lead over Eastern.

Eastern was held to 30.8 percent shooting from the floor. UNC shot 41.7 percent in the opening quarter.

The game stayed close in the second quarter, but points were still difficult to come by for both teams. UNC got out in front, 15-12, at the 8:24 on the clock. The teams would trade points, but Aaliyah Alexander connected from three to tie the game at 17 with 4:48 left in the half. Jacinta Buckley would then give Eastern a two-point lead with a layup. The Bears tied the score with free throws. At the half, UNC led 24-19 following a made jumper by the Bears.

Eastern struggled with a 21.4 percent mark from the floor, while the Bears were shooting 50 percent.

Starting the second half, the Eagles looked to get its offense going. The answer, as usual, was Jaydia Martin who began to find her jump shot. Martin would streak down the court and tie the game at 30 off a great pass from Loera. With under a minute to play, Buckley found Jayden McNeal for the easy score and the Eagles took the lead into the fourth quarter, 32-30.

The Eagles earned the lead behind 41.7 percent shooting in the quarter. They locked-down UNC to 16.7 shooting percentage.

Now with the lead, Eastern pressed its advantage to separate from the Bears in the fourth quarter. Aaliyah Alexander scored off a second chance opportunity to open the scoring in the quarter. Lawrence then scored four-straight points and the Eagles had a 38-30 lead with 6:27 left in the game. Martin fired off another three and Alexander followed suite with a three of her own to push the Eastern lead to 44-30. The Eagle defense was suffocating throughout the second half and made every UNC shot difficult. Eastern won the game 49-36, shooting 46.7 percent in the final quarter. The Bears had a 15.4 percentage.

Eastern finished with a 35.2 shooting percentage, while they stifled UNC's shooting to a 27.5 percentage.

Key Statistics
The game saw eight lead changes and six ties. Eastern's largest lead was 18 points at the 3:08 point of the fourth quarter.

Jaydia Martin has now scored in double figures in 15 of the team's 17 games. She has 41 games scoring in double-digits in her career.

The Eagles scored 19 points off 21 UNC turnovers. They had 14 turnovers that the Bears scored 11 points.

Aaliyah Alexander returned to the lineup from injury and scored 10 points, going 2-of-5(40%) from three-point range.

Jamie Loera scored seven points and dished out a game-high seven assists. She has eight games this season with five or more assists. The Moses Lake, Wash. native added four rebounds and three assists.

Jaleesa Lawrence recorded nine points and had three rebounds. The sophomore was 3-of-8(38.5%) on field goals.

Eastern had 13 assists on 19 made field goals.

The Eagles bench scored 12 points, while UNC's only had two. Eastern also had a 10-2 advantage in fast break points.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will play Northern Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.