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By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter 

Sacramento State hands Eastern women first Big Sky loss

EWU’s seven game winning streak snapped with first Big Sky loss

 

Last updated 1/22/2015 at 11:29am



Any number of things might have played a major part in Sacramento State handing Eastern Washington its first Big Sky Conference home court loss of the season.

But a couple of statistical categories seem to really tell the story in the Hornets’ 73-67 Reese Court win last Saturday afternoon. Eastern committed a season-high 28 turnovers that led to a 30-10 Sac State edge in points.

The loss also ended the Eagles seven-game winning streak and dropped them into second place with a 4-1 conference record (11-5 overall) as they head out on the road for the next two weekends. The seven victories were the longest since Eastern won the 2009-10 Big Sky regular season title.

Eastern earned a split in their brief homestand by pounding Portland State 101-54 last Thursday.

After trailing 33-30 at the half, the Eagles went on a 14-2 run that put them up 60-50 with just under 10 minutes to play. Eastern still led 65-60 with 3 minutes, 52 seconds to play.

A 5-0 Sac State run tied the game at 65-65 before Hayley Hodgins’s pair of free throws with 1:46 to play gave Eastern its final lead. The Hornets closed out the game with an 8-0 run.

“That game came down to which team was able to make more plays at the end,” EWU head coach Wendy Schuller said. “They had some kids step up and make some big shots and we missed some shots that we should hit.”

Hodgins led all scorers with 27 points while sister, freshman Delaney Hodgins collected her second career double-double, with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Melissa Williams also had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Takara Burse’s 20 points led the Hornets.

On the flip side, senior Lexie Nelson, the Big Sky’s third-leading scorer with 17.5 points per game, was held to just two points.

Eastern shot 49.1 percent from the field and held Sac State to 37 percent. However, Sac State made nine 3-pointers while the Eagles scored just one — a Delaney Hodgins’ shot — from long range.

Whatever went sideways Saturday was all right Thursday versus the Vikings (1-4, 3-13).

Five Eagles scored in double figures as the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team shot a school-record 68 percent from the field.

The game turned inside the first four minutes when the Eagles led by just two points, 8-6, with 16:32 left in the first half. But they proceeded to score 33 of the next 38 points over an eight-minute stretch to take a 30-point lead and a 60-24 edge at halftime.

Nelson led all scorers with 22 points. Hayley Hodgins finished with 20 points, while Williams added 15 more. Jade Redmon and freshman Kiana Brown each had 10 points. Emily Easom led the Vikings with 18.

“It was nice that we were scoring inside and out, and that we got our transition game going,” Schuller said. “Overall, it was a good team effort.”

Eastern will hit the road for three straight Big Sky games, beginning Jan. 22, against Northern Colorado (2-3, 8-8). The trip continues at North Dakota (3-2, 11-6) Saturday, Jan. 24 and concludes with a contest Jan. 31 at the University of Idaho (2-3, 8-8).

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

 

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