Eagles, Missall Leave Gonzaga Smarting
Eastern Washington’s Kristy Missall did the damage to Gonzaga inside, and then teammate Tina Smith came along and did damage outside as the Eagles beat the Bulldogs 60-50 Thursday night at Reese Court.
The win gave Eastern its first victory of the year against two losses, while Gonzaga fell to 1-3.
Banging away inside, Missall finished with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds and Smith scored all her 12 points in the second half, allowing Eastern to pull away from a 23-23 halftime tie.
Smith was 0 for 6 from the floor in the first half, but she went 6 for 11 in the second.
“I was more nervous than anything at the start,” Smith said. “Once I calmed down and got into the swing of things, then the shots just started dropping.”
Eastern freshman Kelly Bartleson, formerly of Shadle Park High School, also scored 10 points, eight of which came in the second half.
EWU coach Heidi VanDerveer was glad to get that first win of the season.
“It was a good win for our basketball team,” VanDerveer said. “Gonzaga played smart and we responded when we had to. What was really important was that we kept our poise and played really smart down the stretch.”
Gonzaga coach Kellee Barney uttered the opposite of VanDerveer’s sentiments regarding the play of her Bulldogs.
“We just made too many mistakes. They kept going to Missall inside and we didn’t take that away from them,” Barney said. “You can’t just play hard; you’ve got to play smart.”
Gonzaga bolted to a 16-7 lead through the game’s first 10 minutes of play, but could only muster seven points for the rest of the first half.
“So far this season we have gone through phases in games where we just seem to panic,” Barney said. “The effort is there. Our problems are all fundamental.”
Gonzaga finished the game 19 for 53 from the floor for a 35.8 percent and Eastern finished 24 for 62 for 38.7. GU committed 19 turnovers and 10 of them came in critical moments in the second half.
EWU’s Jennifer Sutter hit a basket to give the Eagles a 54-46 lead with 4:45 left in the game. They held off Gonzaga from there.
“We had people step up when they needed to and that helped,” VanDerveer said. “I think we’re a very good team when we’re playing smart and playing together.”
Chelsea Herman led Gonzaga with 12 points. Amy Jo Silva added 11 and Joy Pauley had 10.
Eastern Washington 60, Gonzaga 50
GONZAGA (50)
Pauley 4-10 2-2 10, McCliment 2-3 0-0 4, Silva 4-8 3-4 11, Herman 4-8 2-4 12, Andrews 2-9 1-2 6, Gere 0-1 0-0 0, McCullough 0-2 0-0 0, Ledgerwood 0-1 0-0 0, Phillips 1-2 1-2 3, Sherfey 0-3 0-0 0, Jeffries 2-4 0-0 4, Steward 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 9-14 50.
EASTERN WASHINGTON (60)
Watterson 0-3 1-2 1, Smith 6-17 0-2 12, Missall 8-14 4-4 20, Bartleson 5-12 0-0 10, Sutter 2-4 3-5 8, Bailey 0-2 0-0 0, Ray 1-4 2-2 4, Ferguson 0-1 0-0 0, Hollingberry 0-1 0-0 0, Sloan 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 24-62 11-17 60.
3-Point goals-Gonzaga 3-10, Eastern Washington 1-10. Fouled out-Pauley. Rebounds-Gonzaga 37, Eastern Washington 43. Att-501.
, DataTimes