STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Getting wins on the road is always tough, and Eastern Washington women's basketball earned their victory on Wednesday night. Eastern defeated Tarleton State, 64-62 and improved to 4-1 on the season.
Alexis Pettis came off the bench and scored 16 points for the Eagles, while Jamie Loera had 15.
"What an exciting road win! This was a very challenging road trip and coming away with a split is awesome," head coach Joddie Gleason said. "We had some huge performances by Milly Knowles and Alexis Pettis. Milly's double-double shows up on the stat sheet, but what you don't see is how well she anchors our back line of our defense. Her rotations are pivotal in our overall team defense and she was stellar tonight. AP gave us a huge spark off the bench with some clutch buckets when we were having trouble scoring. She also was a lockdown defender and made key plays for us. Jamie Loera is a winner and was not going to let this game slip away. Her clutch bucket to take the lead along with her ability to set teammates up helped secure this win. Go Eags!"
Loera carried the load for Eastern in the first quarter, scoring seven points on 3-of-4(75%) shooting. The Eagles shot 50.0 percent from the floor, while they held the Texans to 26.7 percent. EWU opened with a 14-9 lead after the first 10 minutes.
Eastern extended its lead to 10 points midway through the second quarter after Pettis made one of her game-high four threes. Tarleton did not fade away and outscored the Eagles, 13-5 to close out the half. EWU had a 29-27 lead at the break.
The shooting improved for Eastern in the third quarter, as the team posted a 50.0 percent mark and scored 19 points. Aaliyah Alexander delivered with seven points and Knowles scored six. EWU extended its lead to 49-42 after three quarters. The Texans shot 46.2 percent in the third.
Tarleton came out aggressive in the fourth and managed to tie the game at 49 with 7:29 left in the game. The score remained close, but Eastern did not relinquish its lead. The Texans cut the lead down to one with 1:23 left in the game, but a fast break layup from Jaleesa Lawerence pushed the lead back to three. Loera scored in the paint with 27 seconds left to give the Eagles a 64-60 lead. EWU would hold on to win the game 64-62, shooting 46.7 percent in the final quarter.
Eag Notes
- Milly Knowles recorded her first career double-double, finishing with 10 points and 12 rebounds. She was 5-of-8(62.5%) from the floor.
- Jacinta Buckley grabbed 10 rebounds and added eight points in the game.
- Eastern forced 14 turnovers from the Texans and scored 22 points off the mistakes.
- The Eagles had 16 assists on 25 made field goals in the game. Buckley, Jamie Loera and Aaliyah Alexander all had three assists in the game.
- EWU was outrebounded for the first time this season, 42 to 33.
Up Next
Eastern Washington will be off for a week and will then host Gonzaga at Reese Court on Nov. 29. The game will be broadcast on SWX with tipoff at 6 p.m.
ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
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