Area women’s basketball: EWU Eagles prevail, advance

The Eastern Washington Eagles jumped out to a big early lead and cruised to a 65-52 victory over the Weber State Wildcats in Big Sky Conference play on Saturday, clinching a postseason berth with the win in Cheney.

The Eagles (11-14, 7-5) used a 15-0 run to start the game and never looked back.

Chene Cooper led EWU with 18 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals. Brianne Ryan added 11 points.

Justine Johnson topped the Wildcats (5-19, 1-11) with 17 points.

Arizona State 55, Washington State 47: Kimberly Brandon scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds as the Sun Devils (16-8, 8-6 Pac-10) rallied to beat the Cougars (8-19, 6-9) in Pullman.

The Sun Devils closed the game on a 17-3 run.

Rosetta Adzasu scored 11 points to lead the Cougars, who committed 20 turnovers.

Arizona 74, Washington 66: Ify Ibekwe scored 24 points to help lead the Wildcats (16-9, 7-7 Pac-10) past the Huskies (10-14, 5-10) in Seattle.

Kristi Kingma scored 21, Regina Rogers 11 and Sarah Morton 10 to lead Washington, which dropped its third straight game.

Utah State 67, Idaho 51: Devyn Christensen finished with 15 points, five assists and five steals and the visiting Aggies (14-11, 8-4 WAC) forced 30 turnovers en route to a win over the Vandals (13-12, 6-7).

Derisa Taleni topped the Vandals with 15 points.

Idaho’s Yinka Olorunnife grabbed 14 rebounds and became the second Vandal to top the 1,000 career mark.

Pacific 61, Whitworth 59: Erica Shultz hit a jumper with less than a minute to play and Paige Jensen made 1 of 2 free throws with 10 seconds left to lift the Boxers (7-18, 3-13) to a victory over the Pirates (11-14, 7-9) in Northwest Conference play in Forest Grove, Ore.

Taylor Taylor topped the Whits with 16 points and seven rebounds.

North Idaho 63, Southern Idaho 55: Korina Baker scored 20 points and added six steals to lead the 17th-ranked Cardinals (24-3, 10-3 Scenic West Athletic Conference) to a win over the 25th-ranked Golden Eagles (20-8, 7-6) in Twin Falls.

Tugce Canitez tallied 13 points and seven rebounds for NIC, while Kama Griffitts chipped in with 12 points and seven boards.

Columbia Basin 71, CC Spokane 52: Tiffany Idler came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points and grab a game-high 11 rebounds to power the Hawks (22-2, 11-2 NWAACC) to a victory over the Sasquatch in Pasco.

Brooke Randall led the Sasquatch (20-5, 10-3) with 16 points, while reserve Chelsea Brisbois added 11 points and six rebounds.