Sac State storms past EWU women in WNIT game

The Eastern Washington women’s basketball team’s longest postseason run came to a definite halt March 23 at the Hornet’s Nest in Sacramento, Calif.

After cold starts in both halves the Eagles were hammered 84-49 by their Big Sky Conference rivals in a round-two game in the Women’s NIT. Eastern advanced to the round following a 67-65 victory over Washington State March 18 in Pullman.

“We did not handle their pressure,” EWU head coach Wendy Schuller said. “We knew what to expect for sure, but we didn’t handle it as well as we have in the past.”

That led to a disastrous season-high 33 turnovers and to 41 Sac State (18-15) points.

But not being able to handle the ball was only one of the Eagles’ problems. Their shooting percentages were also dismal hitting on only 34 percent of their shots from the field Monday when they shot 43 percent on the season.

Three-point shooting also lagged as Eastern made just 3 of 14 for 21 percent after averaging 34 percent on the season. Even the free throw line was troublesome as the Eagles made 55.6 percent versus the Hornets 76 percent from the line.

“It didn’t help that we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Schuller said. ”That didn’t help our confidence at all. We just weren’t ourselves tonight.”

After trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, the Eagles cut the Hornets’ lead to 10, 38-28, heading into intermission. But they came out of the break cold and hit only 2 of 12 field goal attempts to open the second half while Sacramento State made seven of its first 14 shots.

Senior Lexie Nelson led four Eagles in double figures with 12 points in a balanced, but tepid attack. Freshman Delaney Hodgins added 11 while her sister, junior Hayley Hodgins and senior Melissa Williams each had 10. Takara Bruce led the Hornets, and the game, with 17 points.

In Pullman, Nelson carried the Eagles late in the game hitting key baskets, including one that tied the game and ultimately provide the opportunity for sophomore Jade Redmon to hit the game-winning lay up at the buzzer.

Nelson led the Eagles with 19 points. Redmon added 15 and Hayley Hodgins 12. Lia Galdeira topped all scorers in the game with 31 points.

In contrast to the Sac State game, Eastern shot 45 percent from the field while holding the Cougars to 39 percent. The Eagles connected from 3-point range on 39 percent of their shots and kept the Cougars to just 12 percent with 2 of 17 made long-range shots.

Eastern finished 21-12 and tied a school record for victories, the most since the 1983-84 season, and won its first-ever postseason game outside of the Big Sky tournament with the Wazzu win. WSU finished 17-15.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.

pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.