A historic tournament run for the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team came to a heartbreaking end in the Big Sky Conference championship game on March 15. The No. 6 Eagles fell to No. 4 Portland State in the final four seconds by a score of 61-59.
Eastern Washington led for over 29 minutes of the contest, including a seven-point (57-50) lead with 5:35 to go in the fourth quarter. From there, Portland State used a 9-0 run to take a 59-57 lead with 1:50 left on the clock.
Jessica McDowell-White tied the contest with a layup with 20 seconds left, but PSU’s Desirae Hansen hit the game-winning shot with four seconds on the clock to send the Vikings to the NCAA Tournament.
As close as they come during a championship, the game had 10 lead changes and nine ties. Eastern Washington had two in double figures, led by senior Alissa Sealby’s 15 points and McDowell-White’s 14. McDowell-White scored in double figures in all four tournament games and was named to the All-Big Sky Tournament team along with teammate Violet Kapri Morrow.
“First, congratulations to Portland State,” Eagles head coach Wendy Schuller said. “They played a terrific game and had a great run this tournament. Our seniors and the rest of this team laid it out there like I’ve never seen a team lay it out there for four games in a row.”
The Eagles jumped out to a 6-2 lead thanks to two three-pointers from Morrow. It took time for both teams to settle in, as they were each 2 for 8 from the field on their first 10 shot attempts. Portland State heated up first and used a 9-0 run to pull ahead 11-6.
Eastern Washington responded. After Amira Chandler snapped the scoring drought and hit a jumper, Grace Kirscher grabbed a steal from mid-court and cashed in the fast break layup. She was fouled and made the free throw attempt and the Eagles continued on a 9-0 run to give the Eagles a 15-11 advantage after one quarter of play.
The run carried into the second quarter when Sealby hit a jumper to make it 11 unanswered points for Eastern Washington. The Eagles built a 22-16 leads after keeping PSU off of the board for 2:27. The Vikings kept pestering and tied the game 22-22 after the Eagles went 1-for-10 from the field and were scoreless for three minutes.
McDowell-White then made consecutive three-pointers, she would total three in all during the first half, to build a 28-24 lead. With less than a minute remaining, Portland State would take its first lead since the second quarter, 29-28.
After Kirscher hit a jumper, the Vikings responded once more to lead 31-30. Eastern Washington would get the last say however, as Sealby drained a three-pointer with four seconds left to give Eastern a 33-31 lead at the half.
Portland State took a brief 38-37 lead early in the third quarter when the Eagles used a 10-4 run, capped by a Bella Cravens layup, to go up 47-42. From there, neither teams scored for nearly three minutes. Eastern Washington ran into some turnover trouble as Portland State cut the lead to 47-46. EWU closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to lead 51-46 heading into the fourth.
Eastern built a 57-50 lead, its largest advantage of the night, by using a 6-0 run. However, they were outscored 15 to 8 in the final frame and only shot 30 percent (3-10) from the field. After Hansen made what would be the game-winning shot, the Eagles called timeout and advanced the ball to their sideline but could not capitalize on any opportunities, falling by two points in their first Big Sky title game in 31 seasons.
Eastern Washington wraps up the 2018-19 season with an overall record of 13-20. The Eagles lost their final three regular season games, but knocked of No. 11 Weber State (70-66), No. 3 Idaho State (61-59, OT) and No. 2 Northern Colorado (59-57) en route to the championship.
This is the second year in a row that the Vikings have ended the Eagles’ season, as they upset them in the Big Sky quarterfinals a year ago. Portland State took both regular season meetings.
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