Off to its best Big Sky Conference start in six seasons, the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team welcomes league foes Montana State and Montana to Reese Court for a pair of conference contests this week.
Eastern (11-6, 5-0 Big Sky) will take on Montana State tonight (Thursday, Jan. 21), at 6 p.m. PST, before facing Montana on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m.
The Eagles’ match-up with the Bobcats on Thursday night will see two undefeated Big Sky squads square off for the right to be the league’s undisputed first-place team. MSU enters the game with a 6-0 conference record and a half-game lead over EWU in the Big Sky standings.
The last time Eastern started Big Sky play with five consecutive wins was during the 2009-10 season. That year, the Eagles won their first seven league games en route to their first-ever Big Sky regular season title.
EWU is coming off a pair of road wins this past week, topping Southern Utah, 85-82, Jan. 14, and beating Northern Arizona, 81-71, Jan. 16. Senior Hayley Hodgins scored 24 points in both games and buried 10 three-pointers, including six triples against Southern Utah. She tied her career-high with 10 rebounds versus NAU, good for her second career double-double.
“Anytime you can win on the road in the Big Sky is a good thing,” EWU head coach Wendy Schuller said. “Seeing that we’ve played three of our first five league games on the road and had success in all of them is a big positive for us.”
Junior Tisha Phillips had a weekend to remember, also, finishing with 13 points and a career-high 10 assists against SUU, good for her first-ever double-double. She followed that up with a 20-point outing against Northern Arizona, going 15-of-16 from the free throw line while adding five assists and four rebounds. Her 15 made free throws are the most by an Eagle since Kathleen Nygaard made 14 free throws against Saint Martin’s back on Dec. 14, 2001.
Montana State (13-4, 6-0 BSC) has won its last seven games and recorded home victories over North Dakota and Northern Colorado last week. MSU leads the all-time series with Eastern, 37-33, but the Eagles have won four of the last six meetings and are 3-1 against the Bobcats in the last four encounters at Reese Court.
“Montana State is a really good basketball team,” Schuller said. “Tricia (Binford) is a great coach, and they have a lot of experience. Top to bottom, they are really good. They’ve got great post players and great guards, they shoot the three well and defensively, they play hard and play together. We know we’ve got a really good basketball team coming in to our place on Thursday.”
Montana (11-6, 4-2 BSC) split two home games last week, defeating Northern Colorado before losing on a buzzer-beater to North Dakota. The Lady Griz have a decisive edge in the all-time series, but Eastern has played well at Reese Court against UM of late, winning the last three encounters in Cheney.
In conference play, the Lady Griz are averaging 69.7 points per game while allowing opponents to score 61.0 points per game. UM boasts the league’s second-best field goal percentage defense, holding Big Sky opponents to 35.8 percent shooting through six games. Individually, Spokane native Kayleigh Valley is averaging a league-best 24.0 points per game in conference play while McCalle Feller ranks third with an average of 20.0 points per game.
“For us to be successful this week, we need to keep on doing what we’ve been doing while getting better at it,” said Schuller. “I think we’re still at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can be as a team, and we’re still learning each other and getting better and playing together. I’m enjoying coaching this team every day because they work hard, they’re receptive and they’re talented. It’s a fun road right now.”
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