Eastern Washington men, women eye top-four finish in Big Sky standings

With four games left in the regular season, the Eastern Washington men and women have the same goal: a top-four finish in the final standings and first-round byes in the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nevada.

At 9-5, the Eagles men sit in fourth place in the loss column, two games behind co-leaders Montana and Weber State, and one game behind Idaho.

Eastern is at Weber State (19-7, 12-2 Big Sky) on Thursday. The Eagles have won just five out of 35 games at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah, but they’ve taken two of the last seven, in 2011 and a conference title-clinching win in 2015.

On Saturday, the Eagles are at sixth-place Idaho State (12-13, 7-7).

The Eagles have split all three of their previous Big Sky two-game road trips.

“We’ve had some good weekends on the road, and it’s given us a lot of confidence,” EWU coach Shantay Legans said.

The Eagles women are 8-6 in conference and are tied for fifth with Portland State.

The Eagles’ final homestand is this week, Thursday against Weber State and Saturday against Idaho State.

Saturday’s game also marks the final home games for Eastern seniors Delaney Hodgins and Mariah Cunningham.

Hodgins is the leading scorer in school history with 1,977 points and ranks fourth on the Big Sky career list.