CHENEY, Wash. — The Big Sky conference showed it will continue to be competitive this season, but Eastern Washington women's basketball was on the negative side of it this afternoon. Eastern dropped its Big Sky opener to Idaho, 69-63, at Reese Court. The Eagles start conference play 0-1 and are 7-7 this season. Idaho is 1-0 and improves to 10-4 overall.
"I think we did not give ourselves a chance down the stretch. We had two or three turnovers and had a missed shot," head coach Joddie Gleason said. "[Idaho] had a press that we've seen, but we just had some turnovers that cost us the game. We have to learn from this experience. I thought we did a nice job in the second half competing to get it to one bucket. At that point, we need total execution, value the ball and get a good look at every opportunity."
The Vandals had a double-digit lead in the first half and seemed in control over EWU. The Eagles rallied in the second half, outsourcing Idaho, 39 to 32.
"We needed to be more aggressive in the second half and not force anything. We needed to be more patient in our offense," Freshman Elyn Bowers explained. "I think we forced a lot in the first half. In the second half, when we went on that big run, I think we were more patient and moved the ball, while executing."
Bowers scored a game-high 20 points on 7-of-14(50.0%) shooting, going 3-of-8(35.6%) from three point range. Sophomore Kourtney Grossman nearly had a double-double, pulling down 22 rebounds and scoring nine points.
"We talked about how they were doubling me right away. Knowing that helped open, I tried to not put my dribble on the floor. I was able to check and to see where the double is coming from," Grossman described.
"We did not start the game with a lot of toughness and that's what we talked about at halftime. You need that in order to win against good teams," Gleason added. "The Vandals received number one votes and now we are going off to play Montana and Montana State, who were 1-2 in the preseason polls. To win those games, you have to show up with toughness. We have to finish through contact and get downhill and handle aggressive defense. In the first half we shied away from that, but in the second half we did a much better job. Hopefully we will learn from that and start that way against UM and MSU."
Eastern opened against the Vandals with a 5-2 lead, getting an early three from Kourtney Grossman. Idaho countered with an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game and go up by five. EWU countered with their own 8-0 burst to go up 13-10 at the 3:37 mark of the first quarter. Four different Eagles scored during the run. The game of runs continued as the Vandals put together an 11-2 stretch to close the quarter. After one, Eastern trailed 21-15, shooting 37.5 in the quarter.
The Eagles moved to tie the game up early in the second quarter, getting a layup from Ella Gallatin to pull within two of Idaho. The Vandals offense was clicking, however, as they built a double digit lead at 32-22 and 4:47 remaining in the half. They would extend the lead to 13 at 2:26 and take that advantage into half. EWU struggled shooting, going 4-of-22(18.2%) from the floor.
In the third quarter, Idaho maintained its lead, shooting 38.1 percent from the floor. They outscored the Eagles only 20-18, as Eastern improved its shooting to 47.1 percent. Elyn Bowers accounted for 8 points on 3-of-5(60%) shooting. EWU trailed 55-44 after the third quarter.
Despite trailing by double figures going into the fourth quarter, the Eagles stayed poised in the game. Within the first minute-and-a-half, Eastern reduced the lead to five behind baskets from Bowers and Madeline Gibbs. The deficit was down to three at 7:49 behind two free throws from Bella Hays. The Vandals got back to scoring, but EWU matched them point-for-point. At 4:16, Bowers converted three free throws and the Vandals led only 58-57. Four-straight points from Idaho pushed the lead back to five, before Gallatin made a quick layup. With 11 seconds remaining, Gallatin again came up clutch with a driving layup, cutting the Idaho lead to 65-63. The Vandals made their free throws in the closing seconds to secure the 69-63 win.
Eag Notes
- Elyn Bowers scored in double figures for the 11th game this season and now has 2, 20-point games.
- Eastern held a slight edge in rebounding - 49 to 48 - but was outscored in the paint, 38 to 28. The Eagles scored 12 points on 13 offensive rebounds.
- Kourtney Grossman posted her 2nd career 20-rebound game, one shy of her career-best(23) for a single game. It was her 9th double-digit rebounding game of the season and 26th of her career.
- Ella Gallatin scored in double figures for the 10th game this season, tallying 14 points on 6-of-15(40.0%) shooting. She has 26 total double figure scoring games for her career.
- Eastern recorded 10 steals in the game led by a career-best 4 from Emily McElmurry. It was the team's 6th game with 10-or-more steals this season.
- Jaecy Eggers posted 2 blocks, her 6th game this season with 2-plus blocks and 15th of her career.
Up Next
Eastern Washington takes its Montana road trip next week, facing Montana State on Thursday (Jan. 8), tipping off at 6 p.m. Pacific Time. The team then plays Montana on Saturday (Jan. 10) at 1 p.m.
Women's basketball season tickets are now on sale! Claim your seats at Reese Court for the 2025-26 season by visiting goeags.com/tickets to purchase online.
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.
FOLLOW THE EAGLES
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
