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Eastern Washington University Basketball

Eastern Washington women outlast Montana 80-77 to close regular season

Eastern Washington guard Peyton Howard shoots against the Montana Grizzlies on Monday at Reese Court in Cheney. Howard scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to secure a 80-77 win. (Courtesy of EWU Athletics)
From staff reports

Eastern Washington scored its most points in 13 games – 21 of them from senior Alexis Pettis – as it finished the women’s basketball regular season with an 80-77 victory over Montana on Monday night at Reese Court in Cheney.

The 21 points were a career-high for Pettis, who has scored at least 11 points in seven of her last 10 games. She made 10 of 14 shots and had four steals, one shy of her career high.

The victory helped Eastern (11-19, 7-11 Big Sky) secure the No. 7 seed in the Big Sky Conference Tournament. The Eagles will play in the opening round at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against No. 8 seed Sacramento State (14-17, 7-11), with the winner advancing to play No. 2 seed Northern Arizona on Sunday.

All games will be played at Idaho Central Arena in Boise and streamed on ESPN+.

Eastern’s victory on Monday evened its season series with the Grizzlies, who beat the Eagles 78-70 in each team’s Big Sky opener on Jan. 2. Montana (12-17, 8-10) will be the No. 6 seed in the Big Sky Tournament and will play No. 3 Idaho at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

EWU senior Peyton Howard had 16 points and freshman Jaecy Eggers added 14 and seven rebounds. Eagles freshman Kourtney Grossman scored eight points and had 11 rebounds, finishing the regular season as the Big Sky’s top rebounder (302).

Eastern trailed 31-29 at halftime but then produced one of its best second halves of the season. It made 19 of 30 shots (63%) after halftime to overtake the Grizzlies, who made 18 of 32 shots (56%) in the second half.

Junior guard Mack Konig led the Grizzlies with 16 points and 11 assists, and senior MJ Bruno – a Central Valley High School graduate – added 10 points and four rebounds.

Men

Montana 83, EWU 72: The Grizzlies (22-9, 15-3 Big Sky) dug out of an early hole to beat the Eagles (10-21, 6-12) at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

Montana won a share of the Big Sky regular-season title and the No. 2 seed for the Big Sky Tournament, where it awaits the winner of EWU-Northern Arizona.

The Eagles went on a 13-1 run to take a 19-5 lead at the 13:23 mark in the first half.

Money Williams led the Grizzlies with 23 points. Montana made 16 free throws in the last seven minutes.