Area roundup: Eastern Washington women rebound for win at Montana

Tisha Phillips scored 20 points, Delaney Hodgins added 17 and Eastern Washington rebounded from Thursday’s loss to Montana State to drop Big Sky Conference foe Montana 60-46 on Saturday in Missoula.

Phillips (8 of 12) and Hodgins (7 of 12) combined to shoot 67 percent. Hodgins extended her double-digit scoring streak to 31 games, the longest active current streak in the Big Sky.

“Thursday’s loss was tough to handle, and physically we were a bit beat up,” said head coach Wendy Schuller. “I thought we had several players who stepped up and fought through some pain, and really played well to help us get this win.”

The Eagles (7-7, 2-1) doubled the Grizzlies, 24-12, in the first quarter, while Phillips led the charge with 10 first quarter points off 4-of-4 shooting.

With less than three minutes remaining in the contest leading 53-44, Eastern closed with a 7-0 run that shut the door on a comeback by Montana (3-12, 0-4).

“It is never easy to win at Montana, they have unbelievable fans and we found ourselves in a position today where we had to fight off some runs Montana made and that their fans got behind. It was good to see us get through those situations,” said Schuller.

The Eagles posted a solid field goal percentage of 47.3 percent, while keeping the Grizzlies to just 34.5 percent. Eastern also forced 20 turnovers, leading to 20 points off the takeaways.

Eastern hosts Idaho State on Thursday at 6:05 p.m.

Montana State 80, Idaho 64: Peyton Ferris scored 22 points for the Bobcats and the Vandals struggled early in their seventh straight loss, in Big Sky action in Bozeman.

Montana State (10-4, 3-1) enjoyed a hot start, shooting 53 percent in the first quarter as Ferris burned Idaho for 12 points.

Idaho (6-8, 1-2) hit just three field goals in the first – shooting 0 for 9 from beyond the arc – and trailed 36-18 at halftime.

“Our start to the first quarter killed us,” said Vandals head coach Jon Newlee. “Absolutely killed us. We had great looks early just did not knock them down. I think it affected our defense a little bit. [Peyton] Ferris really hurt us in the first quarter. She is a great player and we did not do a very good job on her.”

Mikayla Ferenz recorded her first career double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Geraldine McCorkell added 17 points. Taylor Pierce finished with 14 points, all but two coming in the fourth quarter.

Idaho hosts Weber State on Jan. 12. The Vandals will play nine of its remaining 15 games at home.

Whitworth 68, Linfield 65: Madison Moffat scored 19 points with five steals, Jessica Thoens hit a pair of crucial late free throws and the Pirates (6-7, 2-2) held off the visiting Wildcats (6-7, 0-4) in a Northwest Conference matchup.

Whitworth led 50-40 entering the fourth quarter. Linfield’s Dani Krier made a layup with 30 seconds left to make it a three-point game, 66-63, but Thoens hit a pair at the line to restore a five-point cushion and hold on.

Thoens finished with 10 points and four steals. Chloe Quinnett grabbed 11 boards to go with six points.

Quincey Gibson and Molly Danielson had 16 points apiece and Krier finished with 13 for Linfield.

CC Spokane 69, Treasure Valley 65: Bri King went 4 of 6 from beyond the arc to finish with 27 points and the visiting Sasquatch (11-2, 2-0) edged the Chukars (9-4, 1-1) in Northwest Athletic Conference play.

King was 10 of 23 overall and 3 of 3 at the line. Janessa Heine scored 11 points with seven assists and Shaye Swannack added 10 points.

Riley Helmick, Chelsee Baker and Gentry Oldham all scored 15 points apiece for Treasure Valley.

CCS led 38-32 at halftime and held off TV down the stretch, despite being outrebounded 40-29.

Yakima Valley 86, North Idaho 74: Sammi Blodgett scored 29 points and the visiting Yaks (12-3, 3-0 NWAC) topped the Cardinals (7-6, 0-2).

Blodgett went 13 of 21 from the field. Sequoia Swan added 18 points with 11 rebounds for Yakima, which raced out to a 22-9 lead after one quarter.

Whitney Meier led NIC with 23 points while Cierra Dvorak added 21. Giavanna Sorn had 10 points and 13 boards.

Men’s basketball

CC Spokane 106, Treasure Valley 93: Levi Taylor scored 32 points, Garrett Hull added 28 and the visiting Sasquatch (12-3, 1-1) rebounded from an loss earlier in the week to beat the Chukars (8-5, 1-1) in Northwest Athletic Conference play on Saturday.

Taylor was 11 of 26 overall with four 3-pointers and went 6 of 7 from the line and added nine rebounds. Hull made six 3-pointers with 10 rebounds and four assists.

Orin Porter added 16 points and Ryan Alexander had 11.

Jaden Vaughn led six in double figured for Treasure Valley with 18 points.

North Idaho 103, Yakima Valley 94: Sam Dowd scored 27 points, Markus Golder added 25 and the Cardinals (13-1, 1-0) outlasted the visiting Yaks (7-7, 1-1) in NIC’s NWAC opener.

Dowd went 8 of 15 from the field and 10 of 13 from the line and added five assists. Golder went 7 of 12 and 10 of 13, while Niko Bevins drilled six 3-pointers to finish with 20 points. Zaequan Satterthwaite added 14 points with 12 rebounds.

Terrance White led five in double figures with 21 points for Yakima.