Eastern women knocked out of BSC tournament

On the heels of one of the best seasons in program history, the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team accepted a bid to the WNIT and played Pac-12 member Washington State March 18 in Pullman.

EWU (20-11) appeared in the WNIT for the second time in three years and the third time overall under 14-year head coach Wendy Schuller. The Eagles’ first appearance came following the 2009-10 season when they won the Big Sky Conference regular season title. Eastern returned to the tournament three years later following its 2012-13 campaign.

“In recent years, going to a postseason tournament has kind of become an expectation for us,” Schuller said. “We were disappointed last year when we didn’t go, and we put ourselves in a better position this year.

Eastern won its opening-round game of the Big Sky tournament last Wednesday in Missoula, beating Northern Arizona 73-57 but saw its rally come up short Friday against eventual champion, Montana, 55-51.

“We’ve had some quality wins both in the Big Sky and out of conference, and I’m glad that we’re going to have a chance to keep playing,” Schuller said.

Eastern is 4-12 all-time against Washington State. The two teams last met Nov. 18, 2007, with Washington State winning, 70-59, at Reese Court.

Washington State (17-14) owns wins over four NCAA RIP top-50 teams in Dayton, Maryland, Gonzaga and Washington, and finished seventh in the Pac-12 with a 7-11 mark.

Junior Hayley Hodgins was named to the All-Big Sky Tournament Team after averaging 16 points in Eastern’s two games.