Cold-shooting Eastern women fall to Montana
Defensively, the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team did its job. But its performance on the other end of the floor was a different story.
The Eagles shot a season-low 27 percent from the field, going 0 of 16 from the perimeter in the second half, as the Montana Lady Griz defeated Eastern 53-46 in a Big Sky Conference game Monday at Reese Court in Cheney.
Eastern (7-8, 1-1 Big Sky) had the home crowd on its feet after scoring the first seven points in the opening minute of the game – all by the league’s leading scorer, Brianne Ryan.
The Eagles were able to extend that to 15-6 by the 12:16 mark as Montana (8-6, 1-0) missed 12 of its first 14 shots. But the tables quickly turned, as EWU failed to convert a field goal the next 5:08.
The shooting drought continued in the second half as the Griz eased away.
Eastern junior center Carrie Ojeda recorded her third-career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Ryan was just one rebound shy of her own double-double, with 13 points and nine boards.
• Angela Woods had 22 points to lead three Cardinals in double figures as North Idaho College overcame visiting Columbia Basin 77-69 in a nonleaguer.
NIC, which trailed 34-32 at halftime, scored 27 points off 21 CBC turnovers and received 26 points from its reserves.
• Washington State’s Jazmine Perkins is the Pac-12 Women’s Player of the Week.
Perkins had a pair of double-doubles (26 points, 27 rebounds total) in leading the Cougars to a pair of Pac-12-opening road wins.
• Idaho sophomore post Alyssa Charlston is the WAC Women’s Player of the Week after averaging 18 points and 5 rebounds and shooting 50 percent from the field to earn all-tournament honors at the Montana Invitational.
North Idaho College broke open a close game in the second half, holding visiting Columbia Basin College to 17 points after intermission and rolling to a 62-42 nonleague victory.
The Cardinals (14-1), who led 28-25 at halftime, scored 26 points off 18 CBC turnovers. Antoine Hosley scored 19 points and Keon Lewis added 15 for NIC.
• Washington freshman Tony Wroten is the Pac-12 Player of the Week after averaging 21.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in Pac-12-opening wins over Oregon State and Oregon.