Bulldogs go inside to defeat EWU

It may have been rainy outside, but it sure was Sunny inside McCarthey Athletic Center on Tuesday night. Sunny Greinacher scored a career-high 16 points as Gonzaga improved to 7-2 with a 65-50 nonconference win over  Eastern Washington. Read more

Gonzaga coach Graves and Eastern coach Schuller are friends, so it's no surprise that they passed along compliments after the game.

“(Wendy) … and I bounce things off each other,” Graves said. … “What I love about playing Eastern every year is that they never quit. They play hard for 40 minutes. They're tough, they're scrappy, they're physical, they're intense. That makes us a better team because we have to play for 40 minutes. … I have a feeling they're going to do well in that (Big Sky) conference.”

Eastern closed within eight points a couple of times in the game, but the Eagles couldn't make a major run.

“We'd hang around, hang around, but we just couldn't get the stops,” Schuller said. “It seems like right at that very moment (Sunny) Greinacher would go get another offensive rebound or a loose ball … that they'd hustle to that we wouldn't get to. … They're a great basketball team because they figure out how to put you away.”

Schuller was asked about positives after the 15-point setback.

“I thought I saw some good things for us tonight defensively,” she said. “Our bigs had to battle all night long and it was tough. I thought we grew and we got better and we figured some things out as the game went on.”

Eastern had GU on the ropes last season until the Bulldogs hit key free throws in the final minute.

“We're a really different team than we were a year ago and I think they're a very different team than they were a year ago,” Schuller said. “They're not as high-powered in terms of going … to score as many points as maybe they used to, but I think defensively they're really good and they're really solid, and that came through tonight.”