EWU women withstand Vandal change, win 71-65

In a Big Sky thriller, Eastern Washington women’s basketball team lost a big lead but found a way to rally late in the game to defeat Idaho Saturday with a 71-65 victory in Cheney.

The Eagles (10-4, 3-0 Big Sky) have won six in a row after dispatching rival Idaho, which falls to 7-7, 1-2 in conference.

“I was really pleased with our players’ resiliency to get stops and make plays down the stretch,” Eastern coach Wendy Schuller said. “We showed some maturity on our part.”

Down as many as 16 points early in the game, the Vandals used a 17-0 run from the end of the first half and into the second and clawed their way back in the game in front of 704 at Reese Court.

Dynamic guard Stacey Barr gave the Vandals their first lead in the second half when she hit a pair of free throws to make it 50-49 with 8:05 to play.

The teams traded the lead five more times, but freshman guard Delaney Hodgins kept hitting shots to either take the lead or keep Eastern close.

“She does that for us,” Schuller said of Hodgins. “She makes shots at very crucial points. She definitely plays like she has been here for a while.”

After Hodgins, who scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, hit a layup to give Eastern a 66-63 lead, sophomore post Reilly Brooke (Mt. Spokane) missed a layup at the other end for Idaho with only 51 seconds remaining.

“It was a killer,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “We ran the play we wanted. You’ve just got to finish. That was the difference in the game.”

Eastern hit free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Senior forward Melissa Williams led the Eagles with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Senior guard Lexie Nelson scored 12 and Jade Redmon (Mead) had 13 points and six rebounds on a night when Idaho won the battle on the glass 51-36.

“It was addressed, believe me, at halftime,” Schuller said. “We weren’t great on the glass and that gave them opportunities. It kept them hanging around.”

But Williams’ effort helped keep Eastern in a game that it led for all but five-and-a-half minutes.

“Mel was doing everything she could do to get rebounds on the defensive end,” Schuller said. “Sometimes when you’ve been ahead like that and lose it, it’s easy to die down.”

The Eagles held Barr, Idaho’s top scorer, to only four first-half points. But the senior guard scored 18 in the second half to lead all scorers with 22.

“We spread the floor and tried to find her some lanes,” Newlee said of Barr. “Once she catches fire, she is hard to guard.”

Ali Forde had a double-double for the Vandals with 14 points and 10 rebounds.