CHENEY, Wash. — The home opener is an important game to set the tone for the season and Eastern Washington women's basketball delivered. Eastern hosted Walla Walla at Reese Court and dominated the Wolves, 81-33. The Eagles improved to 1-1 on the season and had the opportunity to give their full bench playing time.
"I thought that it all starts with our players that get a ton of minutes, really setting the tone to create the opportunity for all of our players to get minutes," head coach Joddie Gleason explained. "At this level, not everyone gets to play in every game. They did a nice job of creating that opportunity. The players that haven't played that much; they really stepped up, executed and listened to our gameplan. Of that group, Emily McElmurry really stepped up and played almost 15 minutes. She is a hardworking and quality guard that has a lot of good players in front of her. The opportunity was presented to her and she did a great job."
Eastern had 14 players get minutes in the game, with 11 scoring. Ella Gallatin led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-9(88.9%) shooting.
"I think it was a really great team win. Our defensive intensity was awesome and I'm excited for the season," Gallatin said. "I'm really excited for our young players. I think everyone on the team can play at this level. It was great to see them get into the game and have their hard work pay off."
Eastern blitzed the Wolves to start with a nine-point run, as Gallatin scored four points. Walla Walla pushed back with a 13-2 run and took a one-point lead over the Eagles. Eastern closed the first quarter with a 6-2 stretch for a 18-15 advantage.
EWU took control in the second quarter, shooting 70.6 percent from the floor. They outscored the Wolves, 27 to 7. Gallatin poured in nine points in the quarter, while Jaecy Eggers and Ellie Boni each scored six. Eastern led 45-22 at the half.
"We set quarter goals and our players did a nice job of executing our goals defensively. I thought Walla Walla did a nice job of bouncing back. We started on that 9-0 run and they bounced back. Following that, we really shut them down defensively. I was really proud of the way we communicated, rotated and executed our scout. We went all the way top-to-bottom from the defensive end by creating offense from our defense. For every category, I thought we did a nice job defensively."
The Eagles remained dominant in the second half, scoring 26 points to Walla Walla's 11. They limited the Wolves to 28.6 percent shooting in the third quarter and zero percent in the fourth. As a team, EWU shot 44.0 percent in the second half.
For the game, Eastern recorded a 50.9 shooting percentage.
Along with Gallatin, Bella Hays scored 10 points. Alexis Pettis, Boni, Eggers and Kourtney Grossman each scored nine points, while McElmurry finished with 8.
Eag Notes
- Eastern improves to 2-0 all-time against Walla Walla.
- Kourtney Grossman, Emily McElmurry, Léa-line Romain and Valérie Cassidy-De Falco all made their Eagle debuts on Saturday.
- Jaecy Eggers grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Eastern outrebounded the Wolves, 46 to 30.
- Ella Gallatin set a career-best in points for the second straight game after scoring 11 in the season opener against Washington State.
- EWU had 22 assists on 29 made field goals in the game. Peyton Howard led the team with six assists.
- The Eagles forced 20 turnovers from Walla Walla, scoring 25 points off those mistakes.
- Eastern's bench scored 33 points, with the Wolves' scoring 16.
- Alexis Pettis set a new career-best with two blocks. EWU finished with five total blocks.
Up Next
Eastern Washington travels to play Washington on Thursday (Nov. 14) with tipoff at 6 p.m.
Season tickets for women's basketball are now on sale. Reserve your seats at Reese Court for the 2024-25 seasons by clicking on the link here, emailing tickets@ewu.edu or calling the ticket office at 509-359-6059.
Join the Eagle Athletic Fund for as low as $50 per year! Support Eagle student-athletes on and off the field while enjoying exclusive EAF perks such as season ticket and tailgating priority, invitations to special events, exclusive access and more. Visit goeags.com/eaf for more information.
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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