Eastern Washington's Delaney Hodgins drives to the basket Monday against Idaho in a Women's Basketball Invitational game at Reese Court where the Vandals eliminated the Eagles 74-67.
Idaho connected on free throws when it counted and Eastern Washington missed their field goal attempts on four possessions inside the final minute, helping hand the Vandals a 74-67 victory Monday, March 20 at Reese Court in the Women's Basketball Invitational quarterfinals.
The Eagles pulled within a point at 66-65 with 1:28 remaining after Ashli Payne hit a layup. But Idaho would go on an 8-2 run down the stretch to seal the victory for the Vandals.
The final seconds were both frantic and frustrating for the Eagles who saw their season end with a 19-14 record.
First, Delaney Hodgins missed a jump shot with 35 seconds to go. Payne got the rebound on the miss and then her jumper missed with 33 ticks on the clock. Symone Starks would corral that offensive rebound and dish off to Tisha Phillips who had her 3-point shot miss with 28 seconds remaining.
"(Fatigue) played a factor down the stretch and that's what we talked about in the locker room after the game," head coach Wendy Schuller said. "When you get down (by double-digits) and fight so hard to comeback, you really tire yourself out."
Eastern hit one more field goal (27-26) than Idaho, but struggled from behind the arc as they only hit 29.4 percent (5 of 17). Conversely, Idaho hit on nearly 42 percent (10 of 24) and made five more 3-pointers than the Eastern.
Hodgins scored a team-best 18 points. Payne had her second-straight double-double of the WBI with a 17-point, 11-rebound performance in her final game in an Eastern uniform. Phillips tallied 14 points.
Idaho's Mikayla Farenz led all scorers with 33 points, including 5 of 9 3-pointers.
Eastern defeated Texas State 66-62 in overtime March 16 at San Marcos, Texas as Payne scored 27 points and had 14 rebounds.
Eastern ended the year at 19-14 on the year, while Idaho improves to 19-14 this season and moves on to face Rice University in the semifinals. It was the fourth meeting of the two teams this year with each winning two games.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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