December 1, 2009 in Sports

Zags women stomp EWU

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Colin Mulvany photo

After a loose ball, Gonzaga’s Heather Bowman and EWU’s Julie Piper the try to gain control of the ball in the first half at McCarthey Athletic Center Tuesday Dec. 1, 2009.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

What was the best moment for Eastern Washington in its women’s basketball game with Gonzaga may have turned out to be its worse.

The underdog Eagles battled back from an 18-point deficit to take a brief lead late in the first half before the Bulldogs pulled away in the second half for an 87-61 win before 2,152 fans at McCarthey Athletic Center Tuesday night.

“Our kids play hard and we’re going to play hard whether we’re up 10 or down 10,” EWU coach Wendy Schuller said. “They kept battling and showed a lot of resilience when they were down to be able to make that run. It was good; I don’t know how good it was giving coach (Kelly) Graves some halftime fire to throw at them, but I was very proud of our kids.”

And the Bulldogs coach did have a halftime message.

“I said let’s do what we did in the first five minutes of the basketball game,” Graves said after his sixth straight win over the rival neighbors. “I think we learned a lesson tonight. I think we took our foot off the gas pedal and relaxed.”

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