Sports Briefs

Eastern women earn road sweep, home for final regular season games

Eastern Washington enters the final week of the regular season in sole possession of the final bye of the Big Sky Tournament, as they currently stand in fourth place with an 11-5 conference record.

The Eagles come off a huge road trip where they swept Weber State, 70-42 on Feb. 23 and then scored a crucial victory over Idaho State Saturday, 61-58.

It sets up an important two games March 1 at 6:05 p.m. at home versus Southern Utah and then at 6 p.m. Friday, March 3 when Northern Arizona visits for Senior Day.

Eastern currently holds a one-game lead over both Idaho and Idaho State for the Tournament’s final bye with two games left to play. A lot of seeding is still yet to be determined for the Big Sky Tournament, but the Eagles can finish anywhere from third to sixth in the Big Sky Standings at the end of the week.

The scenarios are both lengthy and complicated.

At Weber, Ashli Payne and Delaney Hodgins each recorded double figures, as Payne scored 11 and Hodgins followed with 10.

Versus ISU Hodgins scored a game-high 20 points and picked up three steals in 35 minutes of action. The forward shot 5-of-11 from the field making four of six 3-point attempts. Payne collected 15 points.

Wiley repeats with player honor

With double-doubles in both games last week, Jacob Wiley earned College Sports Madness Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors announced Feb. 27.

A 2012 graduate of Newport (Wash.) High School, the 6-foot, 7-inch Wiley had a total of 58 points, 28 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots in EWU’s home sweep of Weber State (89-77) and Idaho State (97-77).

He scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds versus Weber State to help Eastern tie the Wildcats for second in the Big Sky standings. He then had a 38-point effort on Senior Day versus Idaho State on Feb. 25 – equaling his second-best performance of the season. His 15 rebounds in that game was also his second-best effort of the season. For the weekend he made 22-of-33 shots for 66.7 percent and also sank 14-of-16 free throws for 87.5 percent.

Wiley has now earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors in four different weeks, was honored once as Mid-Major Player of the Week, won a tournament MVP honor, and garnered a variety of National Player of the Week accolades for his record-breaking efforts earlier this season in a home sweep of Sacramento State and Portland State.

This is his first and only year in an Eastern uniform after transferring from Lewis-Clark State and having begun his collegiate career at Montana.

“A year ago we were wondering how we were going to replace Venky Jois,” Eastern head coach Jim Hayford said. “At Senior Day last season, there was a guy sitting up in the stands saying this is where he wanted to go and this is what he wanted to do.”

For the season, Wiley is averaging 20.6 points per game overall to rank 24th in NCAA Division I and fourth in the Big Sky on 64.2 percent shooting to rank seventh in the nation and first in the league. His scoring average is currently seventh in EWU single season history, and is just three points from becoming only the seventh Eagle to score 600 points in a single season.

As the final send-off for 12 Eastern Washington University seniors and former head coach Beau Baldwin, the annual EWU football awards presentation will take place Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. at Showalter Auditorium on the Cheney campus.

Cost is $15 per person in advance or $20 at the door, and includes hors d’oeuvres, video productions and highlights from the 2016 season. The event begins with a social hour at 1 p.m., followed by the awards program at 2 p.m.

Besides new head coach Aaron Best, former Eagle head coach Beau Baldwin will also be present at the award presentations. Baldwin, the new offensive coordinator at the University of California-Berkeley, will also be recognized at EWU’s basketball game versus Idaho on Friday, Feb. 17 at Reese Court.

Team awards will be presented and other accomplishments acknowledged, including recognition of the team’s 12 seniors on a squad that finished the 2016 season 12-2 overall and a perfect 8-0 in the Big Sky Conference. They lost in the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs to Youngstown State.

The Eagles had their 11-game winning streak ended by the Penguins, who needed an improbable catch with one second left to pull out the 40-38 victory. EWU hadn’t lost since falling to five-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State 50-44 in overtime on Sept. 10. One week before that they knocked off Washington State of the Pac-12 Conference 45-42.

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