Sports Briefs

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Montana schools visit for only 2018 meeting with Eastern

After a pair of weekends on the road, the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team returns to Reese Court this week to play its lone meetings this season against Montana and Montana State. The game with unbeaten league-leading Grizzlies is at 6:05 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, followed by a visit from the Bobcats on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 2:05 p.m.

Montana is running away with the league race at 13-0, while EWU and MSU are mired smack dab in the middle of the battle for perhaps the last of four first-round byes in the Big Sky Conference Tournament. This week’s meetings are the lone games against those two league foes this season.

“We’re fighting, and we are going to fight tooth and nail,” Eastern head coach Shantay Legans said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

A win over the Grizzlies would not only boost EWU in the standings, but could also provide a significant tiebreaker advantage at the end of the year. If teams are tied in the league standings and have split their season series, the next tiebreaker would be against teams in descending order of finish in the league. Therefore, a win over the Griz would be a rare occurrence this season.

Now 12-13 overall, Eastern is fourth in the league standings at 7-5 following a 66-64 loss at Idaho on Feb. 9, just ahead of 7-6 Northern Colorado. Idaho (9-3) is now two games ahead of Eastern, with EWU and UNC followed by Idaho State (6-6), Montana State (6-7) and Portland State (5-7). The Big Sky Conference Tournament is March 6-10 in Reno, Nevada, and the top four teams receive first-round byes and won’t have to play until March 8 in the quarterfinals.

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Eastern women on the road in Montana

The Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team dropped an 85-71 Big Sky Conference game to Idaho on Feb. 9 in Moscow.

Both Violet Kapri Morrow (18) and Delaney Hodgins (15) continued their double digit scoring streaks.

The road trip continues with a pair of games tonight in Missoula against Montana and Sunday in Bozeman against Montana State.

The Eagles and the Vandals split the regular season series 1-1, each grabbing a win at their respective home courts. The loss snaps a two-game win streak for the Eagles, while Idaho picks up their seventh straight. EWU moves to 12-12 and 7-5 while Idaho improves to 13-10 and 9-3.

With six regular season games remaining, Idaho now moves into a tie for first place in the Big Sky with Northern Colorado, while Eastern drops to a tie for fourth place with Montana State. The top four teams will receive a first round bye at the conference tournament in Reno on March 5-10.