Eagles fall short in high-offensive battle with ‘Jacks

CHENEY — The style of play was different from Thursday night, as Eastern Washington women's basketball and Northern Arizona faced off on the court. Eastern dropped the game, 88-77, in a fast-paced offensive battle. EWU's record now drops to 6-9 in the Big Sky and 10-17 overall.

Both teams shot over 40% for the game, with the Eagles at 41.7% and the Lumberjacks recording a 41.2 percentage.

"I thought we played great and we really bounced back from a tough game Thursday. The team showed a lot of toughness and resilience. That's what you have to do against good teams like NAU," head coach Joddie Gleason explained. "We let them get too loose in the third quarter, but I thought we defended with urgency most of the game. You have to protect the three-point line against [NAU]. They do such a nice job getting the ball to [Sophie] Glancey, so you have to send a couple of people at her. Then that leaves someone else open. You have to tip your hat to them; they hit the shots when they needed to, either in transition or when we doubled."

Despite the loss, Peyton Howard had a monster game, scoring a career-high 30 points on 10-of-18(55.5%) shooting.

"Coach said before the game that we had four games left and that resonated with me as a grad student; this is it for me. I was going to leave it all out on the floor, win or lose. I was just trying to do everything I could to try to get us the [win]," Howard described. "The number one change for us is we don't really play teams that push in transition like NAU. As [Joddie] said, they are just deadly from three and inside. You have to tip your hat to them for hitting the shots that they did."

NAU started the game strong with a 9-2 lead, but EWU stopped the momentum with layups from Jaecy Eggers and Ella Gallatin. The 'Jacks continued to run their offense and extended the lead out to seven again at 18-11 and 2:54 on the clock. Kourtney Grossman held the Eagles to close the quarter strong with a pair of layups and they trailed 20-15. Eastern shot 35.5% in the first.

The teams traded defensive stops to begin the second quarter, with NAU scoring the first points after the first minute. The game settled into a back-and-forth battle as both teams were running a high-paced offense. The 'Jacks' largest lead of the quarter was 27-19 at the 7:07 point. EWU whittled down the deficit and cut it to three on a made three by Emily McElmurry. Eastern then made four free throws to take the lead, 32-31 with 2:12 remaining in the half. The Eagles built the lead to 40-33 on a three from Peyton Howard and they went to the half leading. EWU shot a hot 50% for the second.

NAU's offense caught fire in the third quarter, shooting a blistering 66.7% and scoring 34 points. EWU shot well in the quarter on a 52.9% mark from the floor, but it was not enough to keep pace with the 'Jacks. Eastern scored 18 points, led by six from Howard. NAU had taken control of the game, leading 67-58 after three quarters.

Moving to the fourth quarter, EWU tried to keep pace with the 'Jacks. Eggers scored four points early to keep the NAU lead from growing anymore. The 'Jacks offense was still difficult to defend, as they shot 38.5 and scored 21 points in the quarter. Howard continued to fight and added nine points in the fourth. The Eagles' defense could not put together enough stops to counter and NAU went on to win 88-77. Eastern shot 33.3% in the quarter, scoring 19 points.