CHENEY, Wash.— The cross-town rivalry game lived up to the hype on Wednesday night as Eastern Washington women's basketball faced Gonzaga at Reese Court. The Bulldogs pulled ahead late to beat Eastern, 82-80. EWU's record now stands at 4-2 on the season.
Eastern had four players in double figures, led by Jaleesa Lawrence's 21 points on 8-of-13(61.5%) shooting. Aaliyah Alexander added 19 points on 8-of-16(50.0%) shooting.
"The rebounding was the difference in the game. [Gonzaga] had three, four or five shot attempts in the paint," head coach Joddie Gleason said. "I thought we did a great job executing what we wanted to do with our scout. We defended well and forced some missed shots. We just gave up too many offensive rebounds."
The Bulldogs had the edge early, jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead. They extended the lead to 13-4 before a three from Jaydia Martin and a layup from Milly Knowles stabilized the Eagles. Gonzaga pushed its lead out again, with a 5-2 stretch. EWU closed the quarter strong with a 6-2 scoring advantage. Gonzaga were in front, 20-17 after the first 10 minutes.
Eastern and Gonzaga traded baskets to start the second quarter. The Eagles took the lead at 27-26 on a three from Alexander and 6:02 on the clock. Loera extended the lead with a three on the team's next possession. EWU built its lead to 35-28 with 4:10 left in the half, by way of another Loera three. The Bulldogs countered in force with a 9-0 run and went into the half with the lead, 37-35. Eastern did improve its shooting to 58.3 percent in the second quarter.
The third quarter began similar to the second, as Gonzaga could not separate much from the Eagles. With 6:42 on the clock, Lawrence hit a three to take a 45-44 lead. Lawrence would score 12 points in the quarter to drive the offense. A 7-0 run, over a two-minute stretch, from the Bulldogs gave them back the lead at 57-52 and 1:06 left in the quarter. The Eagles scored twice to tie the game, but Gonzaga ended the quarter with a jumper for a 59-57 lead.
Into the fourth quarter, Gonzaga seemed to find some separation, building a 67-62 at the 7:53 point. Eastern then flipped the script, organizing a 12-2 run and snatched the lead from the Bulldogs at 74-69. The Eagles had made threes from Lawrence and Martin during the run. Following a Gonzaga three, Jacinta Buckley connected from three and the Eagles were up 77-72 with 3:32 left in the game. The Bulldogs put together a 6-1 stretch that tied the game at 78 and 1:49 on the clock. Gonzaga scored the next four points to take control in the game. EWU could not find the tying basket and dropped the game, 82-80.
"The take away from a tough loss like this is to grow from it and continue to learn for the whole season," Gleason explained. "This game will help us during the Big Sky season and the tournament. It lets us learn to execute down the stretch, getting rebounds and understanding key basketball IQ moments."
Eag Notes
- Jaleesa Lawrence now has five, 20-point games for her career and her second this season. She was 3-of-7(42.9%) from three-point range.
- The Eagles had 18 assists on 28 made field goals in the game. Jamie Loera led the team with seven.
- Eastern had a 51.9 shooting percentage and 52.0 percent from behind the arc. Gonzaga shot 42.9 percent and 32.6 percent from three.
- The game had nine ties and six lead changes.
- Loera added 14 points in the game for her fifth double-digit scoring game this season.
- Gonzaga out-rebounded Eastern, 42 to 25. They had a 20 to five offensive rebounding advantage. This led to the Bulldogs with a 19 to 4 edge in second-chance scoring.
- Jaydia Martin scored 13 points off the bench, going 4-of-8(50.0%) from three-point range.
- Milly Knowles led the team with nine rebounds.
Up Next
Eastern Washington gets to stick around for the weekend and hosts Boise State on Sunday (Dec. 3) with tipoff at 2 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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