Short-handed Eagles eliminated

It’s No. 5 versus No. 6 for the Big Sky Conference berth to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Sixth-seeded Montana State University, relentless on defense and playing offense like it had the home-court advantage, ended short-handed conference champion Eastern Washington University’s NCAA dream 65-57 with a big finish in the game’s final 4 minutes, 31 seconds.

Their loss came on the heels of No. 5 Portland State University’s 62-47 victory over No. 2 Montana. The Bobcats and Vikings meet for the tourney title today at 2:05 p.m. at Reese Court.

As Big Sky champions, the Eagles (19-11) earn an automatic berth to the WNIT beginning Wednesday. Eastern finds out its opponent and site Monday.

Forty minutes before Friday’s game started, EWU’s second-leading scorer and top 3-point threat, Kyla Evans, was sidelined with back spasms.

Then leading scorer and Big Sky MVP Julie Piper sat on the bench for 18 minutes of the first half with two fouls.

“It hurt us in the aspect, obviously, that she’s a great perimeter shooter and all-conference player,” Eastern coach Wendy Schuller said of Evans’ absence. “And the fouls on Julie, it’s one of those things that carries over and I never thought she got into any kind of a rhythm.”

For all that, Eastern led for much of the game, overcoming the physical defense by Montana State (17-13) and the leadership of Erica Perry, who sliced and shot her way to 22 points.

Eastern was ahead 51-49 with less than 5 minutes remaining when it was buried by a Sarah Strand-inspired 16-6 flourish.

Perry scored 15 second-half points and Strand had 13 of her 17 in the final 20 minutes.

“We played one of the best teams in our conference and probably the hardest game to this point to score upon,” Bobcats coach Tricia Binford said. “Initially they were hurting us with their penetration so we went to switching screen action.”

Still, with 5-foot sparkplug Chene Cooper igniting a 10-point EWU run with six straight points that offset a similar spurt by the Bobcats, the Eagles, despite their game-long struggles against the defense, took a 26-25 lead into the locker room.

Much of MSU’s damage was done by Perry and 3-point shooter Katie Bussey, who had 16 points between them.

The Bobcats bolted to a 35-31 lead after intermission.

Eastern Washington rallied, including a 3-pointer by Brianne Ryan.

The lead went back and forth. EWU was up 46-41 when Piper finally got untracked, scoring for the first time with 11:25 left to play.

But the final four minutes belonged to the visitors with Strand making two free throws, hitting a 3-pointer and adding six more points down the stretch.

Portland State 62, Montana 47: The preseason Big Sky favorites and as such expected to be in the tournament final, the Vikings (17-14) didn’t disappoint, reaching today’s title game for the second straight year.

A pair of ex-Spokane high school stars helped them to it.

However, the Vikings entered the tourney as fifth seed, needing two wins to reach the championship game.

“Things fell apart here and there,” said junior Lexi Bishop, out of Shadle Park, who hit two 3-pointers at critical times in the game. “But this is the most important time to be playing well.”

The 3s came with 39 seconds remaining in the first half and with 9:16 left to play and stemmed Grizzlies (15-14) rallies. The latter came after Montana had pared a 47-33 deficit to 51-45.

Junior Kelli Valentine, who helped Mead to fourth in State 4A high school play in 2007, scored 12 points, including two baskets in the final 8 minutes to help PSU pull away.

Lyndi Seidensticker (Lewis and Clark) is not playing for Montana State because of a broken thumb.