Eastern Washington women hope to give Montana the boot on Lady Grizzlies’ home court

MISSOULA – The Eastern women’s basketball players are in a good place, even if that place is Dahlberg Arena.

“It’s every coach’s dream – actually a nightmare,” EWU coach Wendy Schuller joked of today’s Big Sky Conference tournament semifinals matchup against top-seeded Montana.

The Eagles won here two years ago, and they’re feeling confident coming off their wire-to-wire, 73-57 quarterfinal win Wednesday night over Northern Arizona.

“I think things are clicking for us right now, and there’s nothing better at that stage,” said Eastern guard Hayley Hodgins, who had a game-high 22 points against the Lumberjacks.

“We need to play well, but we’re more than capable of kicking them out of their place,” Hodgins said.

The winner will face Sacramento State or Northern Colorado in the title game Saturday afternoon for a spot in the NCAA tournament.

If the Eagles’ confidence got a boost out of watching Montana struggle past eighth-seeded Idaho State in the nightcap Wednesday, Schuller wasn’t saying.

Montana (22-8) led ISU by 21 points at one point, but “We kind of fell asleep,” Lady Griz guard Maggie Rickman said after her team held on for a 69-67 win in front of a crowd of 2,914.

A similar crowd will be back tonight, but Schuller said the win over NAU “was good for us in the aspect of playing well on this court and in this facility.”

The Eagles (20-10) didn’t play well their last visit here on Feb. 28, getting outrebounded 45-35 en route to a 69-59 loss that cost them their last shot to win the regular-season title.

“The last time we played here, I don’t feel like we moved the ball very well,” Schuller said. “We have to be a lot more active in terms of moving our bodies and moving the ball.”

The Eagles won the first matchup, 65-64 in Cheney on Feb. 5.