Eastern women fall

The magic ended for Eastern Washington as sixth-seeded Montana State pulled away in the closing minutes to defeat the Eagles in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals at Reese Court on Friday.

Mike Vlahovich’s unedited game story is below.

However, the season isn’t over as the Eagles head off to the WNIT, pairings to be announced after the NCAA pairings Monday night.

The season did come to an end for Idaho in a tough loss to in the WAC semifinals to league-champion Fresno State. Vandal coach Jon Newlee got into a little trouble with the league for his comments after the game.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson announced that Newlee has been publicly reprimanded for violating the WAC’s sportsmanship code. During the postgame press conference, Newlee extensively criticized the officiating of the game won by Fresno State, 80-66.  In doing so, Newlee violated the WAC’s sportsmanship code and any further violations of the code may result in a minimum of a one-game suspension.