Eastern women rout Northern Arizona for sixth straight victory

Hayley Hodgins scored 19 points, Melissa Williams had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Eastern Washington routed Northern Arizona 73-42 in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday at Reese Court in Cheney.

The win was the Eagles’ sixth straight following a four-game January skid.

Lexie Nelson added 14 points for Eastern (17-8, 10-4), which used a 17-6 run midway through the first half to establish control.

Northern Arizona (11-14, 7-7) couldn’t get much going offensively. The Lumberjacks shot 16 of 59 from the floor, including 3 of 14 from the 3-point line.

The Eagles remain alone in second place in the conference, 1 1/2 games behind Montana. They have four remaining regular-season games and play at Montana State on Thursday and at Montana on Saturday.

Idaho 76, Southern Utah 49: Stacey Barr scored 14 of her game-high 18 points after halftime and the Vandals (12-13, 6-8) dumped the Thunderbirds (12-12, 5-9) in a Big Sky Conference game in Moscow, Idaho.

The win was Idaho’s third in four games.

Christina Salvatore added 11 points – all in the first half – and nine rebounds for the Vandals, who closed the first half on a 22-9 run to take a 12-point lead.

Southern Utah folded in the second half, shooting 16.7 percent from the field, including 0 of 7 on 3-pointers.

Idaho has four remaining regular-season games. It plays at Montana on Thursday.

(25) Puget Sound 82, Whitworth 78: Emily Sheldon had 17 points, five rebounds and four assists and the Loggers (22-3, 13-3) secured second place in the Northwest Conference with a win over the Pirates (21-4, 12-4) in Tacoma.

Whitworth will be the third seed heading into the upcoming conference tournament.

The Pirates cut Puget Sound’s 12-point lead to five with 21 seconds left, but the Loggers made 3 of 4 free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win.

Whitworth’s Kendra Knutsen scored 21 points, KC McConnell had 16 points and nine rebounds and Jessica Kramer scored 14.

The Pirates and Loggers play again Thursday in Tacoma in one tournament semifinal. Whitman is at top-seedcd George Fox in the other. The winners play Saturday for the championship.

Columbia Basin 68, CC Spokane 62: Morgan Grier had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Sydney Mercer added 15 points and 17 boards as the Hawks (17-9, 9-3) edged the Sasquatch (14-14, 3-9) in a Northwest Athletic Conference game in Pasco.

Both teams struggled early before getting things going in the second half.

CCS made just 9 of 35 first-half shots, including 1 of 8 3-pointers. Columbia Basin was even worse – the Hawks shot 29.4 percent from the field – but 17 offensive rebounds led to 18 more field-goal attempts.

The Sasquatch were led by Khadija Neumeyer, who poured in a game-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Gese Gruber added 11 points and 10 rebounds for CCS, which plays host to Yakima Valley on Wednesday.

Salt Lake 62, North Idaho 53: Raushan Gultekin led three players in double figures with 15 points and the Bruins (25-5, 13-2) built a 12-point first-half lead and held on to beat the Cardinals (18-12, 6-9) in Taylorsville, Utah.

Monica Landdeck hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and scored a team-high 16 points for NIC.