Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Vanderveer, Upstart Eagles Stand Tall New Coach Has Eastern Washington Women In Their First Big Sky Tournament In 10 Years

Kevin Blocker Staff Writer

Heidi VanDerveer isn’t satisfied that her Eastern Washington team qualified for the Big Sky Conference women’s basketball tournament.

She wants more.

“I told them, ‘Don’t show up to get on the bus if you don’t feel we can win this weekend,”’ the first-year Eastern coach said.

Eastern’s appearance today will be its first in 10 years. The Eagles open with Big Sky champion Montana in Missoula. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

A 5 p.m. game matches Montana State and Boise State.

Eastern (12-14) earned the fourth and final conference playoff berth by sweeping Montana and Montana State last weekend in Cheney.

EWU was picked to finish eighth in the conference by a panel of Associated Press sportwriters. Few give the Eagles much of a chance against the Grizzlies (23-6).

“We’re excited about going, but we’re going over there to take care of business,” VanDerveer said.

In the business of winning basketball games early this season, however, VanDerveer and the Eagles appeared headed toward bankruptcy.

In addition to a brutal preseason schedule - in which the Eagles started 4-8 - EWU lost starting center Nicole King to a season-ending knee injury.

According to VanDerveer, the team never lost sight of the goal of going to the conference playoffs.

Eastern bounced back to finish 8-6 in conference play. In its last five games, three on the road, Eastern went 4-1.

“We’ve worked very hard all year long,” VanDerveer said. “We’ve taken our lumps, but we’ve won some big games that should give us confidence.”

VanDerveer added she thinks the key to EWU’s performance will be its ability to maintain composure in front of an anticipated crowd of 8,000.

“We’re in very unfamiliar territory,” she conceded. “Unlike some of the other teams, there’s a comfort factor that we don’t have. But we have the kind of leadership on this team that will not let us be complacent. I think we can go and challenge Montana.

“They play a matchup zone on defense. That’s something we don’t see much. Defensively, we just have to play smart and play for good position.”

It was smart play and conference positioning that took Eastern to this point. The Eagles went on the road and beat Northern Arizona on Feb. 25, breaking a tie between the teams for the final playoff position.

“It’s not a fluke that we’re here,” VanDerveer said. “We got up and ran at 6:30 in the morning like we were on track scholarships in the preseason. This is just the continuation of a long-term goal that we have.”