Montana State women survive EWU comeback, win thrilling Big Sky semifinal 79-77 in OT
BOISE – The Eastern Washington women nearly pulled off a massive comeback.
Brianne Bailey had other plans.
The Montana State guard’s deep fadeaway 3-pointer forced overtime and the second-seeded Bobcats did just enough to slip past the sixth-seeded Eagles 79-77 in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals at Idaho Central Arena.
EWU (15-18) trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half, but guard Elyn Bowers opened the third quarter with her own 7-0 run and the Eagles finally took their first lead with 3 minutes, 39 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles couldn’t have closed much better, making their last four field goals and eight free throws in regulation, but the Bobcats (25-6) wouldn’t be denied, beating Eastern for the third time this season – two of those matchups went to overtime.
Montana State advances to face top-seeded Idaho in Wednesday’s championship at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
“I’m really proud of the resilience that this team showed,” EWU coach Joddie Gleason said in a release. “We didn’t start the game we wanted to and got down, but we continued to fight the whole way. … (MSU) made huge plays down the stretch, but we did as well.”
Eastern hit a number of clutch baskets and foul shots in the fourth – including a 3 at the 1:55 mark from guard Caitie Gingras, who hadn’t scored up to that point – to inch ahead of MSU. Bobcats shooters couldn’t find many cracks in a rejuvenated Eagles defense, shooting 7 of 21 from the field in the period.
But the Bobcats hit enough late layups to give themselves a chance to tie it with seven seconds remaining. Bailey had nowhere to go at the top of the arc, so she threw up a contested 3, and swished it.
Gingras opened the extra period with another 3, but that was one of only three field goals for EWU in overtime. The Bobcats capitalized on an Eastern scoring drought of over three minutes to reclaim the lead.
After the teams traded a couple of costly missed free throws in the last 10 seconds of overtime, EWU couldn’t convert on a good look just before the buzzer. Forward Jaecy Eggers’ layup rimmed out, and her putback attempt was too late.
The Eagles had a mistake-prone first half, committing 13 of their 25 turnovers and shooting 0 of 8 from 3-point range. MSU built a 38-19 lead late in the second quarter.
Lifted by Bowers, who didn’t miss a shot in the second half, Eastern started to find its rhythm after the break and trimmed the deficit to six points entering the third. EWU played a nearly mistake-free fourth period, but its wild upset bid came up just a play or two short.
Bowers, a true freshman standout, tallied 23 points for EWU on 8 of 12 shooting and 7 of 9 from the foul line. Eggers had 19 points (8 of 11) and eight rebounds. Guard Ella Gallatin, the only senior in EWU’s starting lineup, added 17 points and nine boards. All-conference post Kourtney Grossman contributed eight points and nine rebounds. EWU shot 49% from the field, 3 of 18 (16.7%) on 3s and 18 of 21 from the foul line.
MSU guard Taylee Chirrick, the Big Sky MVP, scored 26 points and all-conference forward Addison Harris added 17 as the Bobcats shot 37.7% from the floor and 6 of 25 (24%) from deep.