With the regular season coming to a close, Eastern Washington women's basketball is peaking at the right time. Eastern defeated Idaho State, 64-44, today (Feb. 25) at Reese Court for the team's third-straight win. Eastern improves to 10-7 in conference and 17-10 overall this season. Idaho State is now 6-11 in the Big Sky and 11-17 overall.

"We locked-in defensively. Our team has continued to develop and improve on our defensive plan. They recognize how important rebounding is and finishing defensive possessions with rebounds," head coach Joddie Gleason said. "We have really made sure that we keep teams to one possession on offense and holding teams down. Allowing only 44 points tonight is around what we have been doing the past three games."

Jamie Loera posted her fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 19 points and 10 assists. Loera added eight rebounds and four steals.

"I was seeing what the defensive was giving me on ball screens and following shots on both offense and defense," Loera said. "It definitely helps when my teammates make shots, so I want to keep finding them. I want them to let it fly. We keep reading the defense and pushing the ball in transition. When we do that, we keep up the pace of the game and opponents have trouble keeping up. I take a lot of pride in defense and be of help to my teammates. When I'm guarding shooters, I don't want to give them any easy looks."

Eastern and Idaho St. traded points to begin the game, with Milly Knowles and Gabrielle Jung finding points from inside and out. The Bengals went into the first media timeout with a 7-6 lead at 4:51. ISU extended its lead to 12-6 with 2:30 on the clock, combining for an 8-0 run from the Bengals. Jacinta Buckley silenced the run with a corner three. Following a layup from ISU, Jamie Loera poured in five points to tie the game up at 14. The score held until the end of the quarter.

Eastern shot 31.3 percent in the first quarter, while the Bengals were shooting hot at 66.7 percent.

The defensive intensity stepped up in the second quarter, with neither team scoring for the first two minutes. ISU struck first with layup but was quickly answered by a jumper from Camille Jentzsch. A three from the Bengals would give them the lead back. Loera would then give Eastern the lead at 21-20 and 3:54 remaining in the half. From the behind the arc, Buckley found her stroke as the half closed, connecting for two threes and a 27-22 lead. Ella Gallatin was wide open on the wing as time expired and she drained a three to give the Eagles a 30-22 lead at halftime.

In the quarter, Eastern shot 37.5 percent and the Bengals were held to 18.8 percent from the floor.

Starting the third quarter, the Eagles extended their lead to 34-25 with scores from Buckley and Loera. Eastern would tack on two more layups with Loera stealing and scoring on one and then assisting on a fast break score from Jaleesa Lawrence to extend the run to 8-0. Lawrence would connect from three to push Eastern's lead to 45-30 at the 4:41 point of the quarter. The three sparked an 11-0 run for the Eagles and they were up 51-30 with 1:05 on the clock. Eastern led 51-32 after three.

The Eagles shot 56.3 percent in the third, while holding the Bengals to 25.0 percent.

Now in the fourth, Eastern padded its lead to keep ISU from making a run. Loera found Knowles twice inside for easy layups. The Eagles cruised down the stretch Alexis Pettis and Lawrence would both get their jumpers to fall, with Jentzsch adding one. At the end, Eastern won the game 64-44, shooting 35.3 percent in the fourth quarter. ISU shot 36.4 in the final frame.

Overall in the game, the Eagles had a 40.0 percentage from the floor. The Bengals finished with a 32.7 percentage.

"We are playing our best right now. We have had some adversity with injuries and people playing out of position," Gleason added. "It takes several weeks to get the confidence of playing different positions. We're moving in the right direction and getting ready for the Big Sky Tournament."

Key Statistics
Jamie Loera set career-highs in points (19) and assists (10) against Idaho State. She also led the team with two blocks.

Led by Loera, Eastern had 19 assists on 26 made field goals in the game.

Jacinta Buckley nearly had a double-double, scoring 13 points and leading the team with nine rebounds.

The Eagles won on the boards with a 42 to 33 advantage in rebounds. They pulled down 16 offensive rebounds for 12 second chance points.

Eastern had only eight turnovers in the game and was the sixth game this season for the Eagles with under 10 turnovers.

The Eagles were dominate in transition, recording 18 fast break points to the Bengals one.

The bench production for the Eagles was exceptional, with 26 points. ISU had seven points off the bench.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will play its final regular season game this coming Monday (Feb. 27) against Montana State in Bozeman, Mont. with tipoff at 6 p.m. Pacific Time.