Eags drop Friday night contest to Gonzaga

SPOKANE - The Eastern Washington University women's basketball team took on No. 21/23 ranked Gonzaga University in front of a sold-out crowd at the McCarthey Athletic Center on Friday evening, Nov. 22.

Grace Kirscher led the Eagles with 15 points, but the Eagles fell by a final score of 84-44.

"We hit another excellent basketball team in Gonzaga tonight. They're ranked for a reason, I don't think they're ranked high enough personally; they're a really good basketball team. They have a lot of weapons, they play hard and they play together. They deserve a lot of credit tonight," head coach Wendy Schuller said. "Honestly, I saw some better things from our team. It was far from perfect, but I thought that we played hard and that our effort and offensive execution was better. We got good shots, but we have to knock them down, you can't shoot 32 percent from the field. It was good to see Grace Kirscher get going a little bit for us offensively and the bottom line is we have to make baskets. I thought we ran things better than we had and gave ourselves good opportunities, but we didn't finish them."

Gonzaga used an 11-0 run midway through the first to take an early lead.

The Eagles were 4-10 from the field on their first 10 attempts, but trailed 23-10 after one quarter of play, led by Leya DePriest's six points off the bench.

Eastern Washington was able to hold GU to 7 of 15 from the field, but the Bulldogs made three, 3-point field goals to help their advantage.

The Bulldogs opened the second quarter with four unanswered points, only to have the Eagles answer with four straight of their own after Jenna Dick nailed a floater as time expired and Brittany Klaman made a layup.

Kirscher exploded for eight points during the frame and ended the half with 10 on 2 for 2 from distance.

Eastern Washington was only outscored 20 to 16 in the second quarter but trailed 43-26 at the half.

The Eagles were shooting 37 percent from the field compared to GU's 46.7.

Gonzaga opened the second half on a 9-0 run and Eastern Washington did not make a field goal until the 3:34 mark of the third quarter when Klaman hit a corner 3-pointer.

The Eagles were outscored 13-5 in the third frame and trailed 56-31 heading into the fourth.

Despite shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range, the Eagles were outscored 28-13 in the fourth quarter and fell 84-44 as the final whistle blew.

Eastern dropped to 0-4 on the year while Gonzaga improved to 3-1.

Kirscher led the Eagles with a season-high 15 points, her 18th career game in double figures as a sophomore. She was 6 for 10 from the field and 3 for 4 from 3-point range.

DePriest finished with seven points and four rebounds, while Bella Cravens led the team with six boards.

Both Jessica McDowell-White and Jenna Dick had two steals, while McDowell-White led the team with four assists. Brittany Klaman had the team's lone block.

The Eagles shot 32.1 percent on the night, going 18 for 56 from field goal range, 5 for 23 from a distance and 3 for 9 from the free throw line.

Gonzaga shot 51.7 percent on the night, knocking down 31 of their 60 attempts from the field.

Fifteen of their points came from the free throw line to go with seven made 3-pointers.

Turnovers troubled the Eagles. They gave the ball up 20 times; Gonzaga scored 21 points off them. Eastern was also out-rebounded 40 to 30.

The Eagles take to Reese Court for the first time this season on Sunday, Dec. 1, when they host another WCC opponent in Pepperdine. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.