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Eastern Washington University Basketball

Eastern Washington women advance to Big Sky Tournament semifinals with upset of Northern Colorado

Eastern Washington forward Kourtney Grossman dribbles around the Northern Colorado defense during a Big Sky Conference Tournament game on Monday at Idaho Central Arena in Boise. (Courtesy of EWU Athletics)
From staff reports

BOISE – The Eastern Washington women’s basketball team opened its stay at the Big Sky Conference Tournament with perhaps its most impressive – and gutsiest – win of the season.

The sixth-seeded Eagles erased a double-digit deficit on Monday at Idaho Central Arena, overtaking No. 3 seed Northern Colorado in the final minutes and holding on for a 55-53 victory to advance to the semifinals.

EWU (15-17) will meet No. 2 seed Montana State (24-6) on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

Monday’s win was arguably EWU’s best of the year, in terms of opponent strength. The Bears (22-10) swept the Eagles in the regular season, and EWU only posted one other win this season against a team that reached 20 wins – EWU won 67-63 in December at South Dakota, which went 23-9.

While Eastern didn’t record any wins against the Big Sky’s top three teams during the regular season, the Eagles matched up well in those games. They lost by two points in both games against Montana State, one in overtime.

“We’re a pretty young group and so sometimes it takes a little more time to recognize that they need to grow and learn,” EWU coach Joddie Gleason said in a release.

EWU led for most of the first quarter, but shot 3 of 13 in the second period against the Big Sky’s top scoring defense and slipped into a 31-20 hole at half. The Eagles kept it manageable in the third, but still trailed 46-39 entering the fourth before quick buckets from forward Jaecy Eggers and guard Elyn Bowers made it a one-possession game.

Eastern took its first lead since the first quarter with 3:34 remaining, then stretched it to five points with under a minute to play. The Bears hit a 3 with 40 seconds left, made a stop and called timeout to draw up a play, but Erin Powell’s 3 missed at the buzzer.

Every EWU starter scored in double figures. Eggers tallied 10 points and 11 rebounds. Post Kourtney Grossman had all 11 of her points in the first half and added eight rebounds. Bowers contributed 10 points, and guards Ella Gallatin and Caitie Gingras had 11 apiece.

The Eagles shot 35.9% from the field and 4 of 20 on 3s, and held the Bears to their second-lowest shooting percentage of the season (29.8%).