Eagles embrace ‘second season’

The Eastern Washington women’s basketball team would love to repeat history when it takes on Northern Arizona today in the Big Sky Conference tournament in Missoula.

The No. 4 seed Eagles crushed the Lumberjacks 73-42 in Cheney on Feb. 21, which was the only time the teams met this year. The rematch is set for 4:30 p.m. in a quarterfinal game at host Montana.

“They are looking at it just like we are,” coach Wendy Schuller said. “It’s a second season. It’s fun to hit the reset button. Everybody is set to go.”

The Eagles (19-10, 12-6) are seeking their first 20-win season under coach Wendy Schuller, who has spent the past 14 years trying to reach that mythical plateau in Cheney.

“This is a talented team. I just love this group’s work ethic,” Schuller said. “We have a couple seniors who laid it all on the line.”

The Eagles field a starting lineup that had all five players receive Big Sky recognition on Tuesday, and all averaged double figures in scoring.

The team is led by junior Hayley Hodgins, who averaged 16.7 points a game; and seniors Lexi Nelson (14.1 points) and Melissa Williams, who notched 12 double-doubles in averaging 10.7 points and 9.6 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Jade Redmon (Mead) averages 10.3 points and 3.7 assists a game and freshman Delaney Hodgins chipped in 10.8 points a game.

“It’s fun,” Schuller said. “If we could eclipse the 20-win mark, it would make it a very memorable team.” But the run for immortality must go through a Lumberjacks team that couldn’t buy a bucket the first time the teams met.

Eastern held Northern Arizona to 27.1 percent shooting in Cheney while Hayley Hodgins scored 19 and Williams had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

“I don’t know if we took them out of something,” Schuller said, “but they didn’t finish as high as they did in the league without doing something right.”

Northern Arizona (13-16, 9-9) earned the fifth seed because it went 2-1 against the two other teams, North Dakota and Montana State, which both posted 9-9 conference records.

The Lumberjacks are led by 6-foot senior forward Erikka Banks, who averaged 13.4 points a game and scored 16 points in the game against the Eagles.

“She’s really solid and did some things against us that were difficult to stop,” Schuller said of Banks. “They were very athletic.”

The Eagles come in after having won their last two games, a 62-58 win over Idaho State and a 64-62 overtime win Saturday over Weber State.

“They were more exciting than I would have liked,” Schuller said of the close victories. “But they were two teams playing for their lives. I knew they would battle.”

Now it’s the Eagles who find themselves playing to extend their season, and a chance at history.