EWU defeats WSU in Women’s NIT

Jade Redmon was nervous.

Washington State threw everything it had at her on an inbounds pass with 24 seconds remaining, forcing Eastern Washington coach Wendy Schuller to call a timeout.

Schuller called another play putting the ball in Redmon’s hands. Redmon overcame her nerves and with 0.4 seconds left rolled the ball off the rim and into the basket, giving Eastern Washington a 67-65 Women’s NIT victory over WSU at Beasley Coliseum on Wednesday night.

“I was really nervous at first because they came out trapping, so I got a little frazzled,” Redmon said. “I knew we were tied so it doesn’t really matter but I was just glad we got the roll.”

The clock struck 0.4 seconds when her layup rolled in, striking the end of Washington State’s season. Eastern Washington will face today’s winner of Sacramento State at Pacific, date and time to be determined.

Schuller called the winning play but is hesitant to take credit for Redmon’s heroics. The Spokane native finished with 15 points after the final basket.

“They doubled her and did some things and Jade just stepped up and made the play,” Schuller said. “It has nothing to do with me drawing anything up. It’s players making plays.”

Redmon’s dagger basket compounded Washington State’s disappointment at having been one of the first four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars likely would have hosted through the quarterfinal in the WNIT had they advanced.

The Cougars registered pre-season wins against NCAA tournament participants Gonzaga, Dayton and No. 1-seeded Maryland before injuries bombarded the team during the conference season.

Post players Shalie Dheensaw and Nike McClure were absent for a mid-conference stretch that saw Washington State drop seven of nine games and lose to Arizona State in the quarterfinal of the Pac-12 tournament.

“We certainly had a great resume with our pre-season being 9-2, especially the wins over Dayton and Gonzaga and obviously Maryland,” Washington State coach June Daugherty said. “Unfortunately for us, we weren’t able to weather the storm well enough with injuries. As far motivation-wise, any time you get a chance to play for a championship and represent your university that’s motivation enough.”

The Eagles were Big Sky tournament semifinalists after finishing third in the conference, with plenty of motivation to play against a Pac-12 program.

After WSU jumped out to a 9-0 lead from the opening tip, Eastern fought back and took a 36-23 lead with 4:08 remaining in the first half. The Cougars ended on a 10-0 run to trail only 39-35 at halftime.

The back and forth contest continued until the final buzzer, decided by a few decisive plays.

Lexi Nelson drained a 3-pointer with 4:05 left in the game to draw the Eagles to within two points. She hit a pair of free throws 30 seconds leader to give Eastern Washington the lead.

“This is a great win for us,” Schuller said. “We’ve had a phenomenal season and had some great wins along the way and this is another win that we’ll take a lot of pride in.”