CHENEY — The Eastern Washington women’s basketball team ran its latest winning streak to seven and maintained their lead in Big Sky Conference standings following a sweep of a pair of Reese Court games last week.
Eastern staved off an upset bid from Northern Colorado, 68-63 on Feb. 24 and won in dominant fashion over their closest pursuers in the regular season, Northern Arizona, 67-42, on Feb. 22.
Not only did that win allow the Eagles to take sole possession of first place in the Big Sky but with the victory the Eagles set a program record with their 22nd win of the season.
On Saturday, the Eagles were led in the scoring column by Jaleesa Lawrence, who finished with 19 points. Aaliyah Alexander scored 16, followed by Jamie Loera with 10.
Eastern led at halftime 37-23 but UNC (8-7, 13-13) chipped away to make it 62-58 with 1 minute, 3 seconds to play.
Lawrence came up clutch with a layup in the paint, was later fouled and sunk four free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
The Eagles provided payback in a big way against Northern Arizona (11-3, 19-8).
Eastern’s second conference loss came in a free-wheeling 89-81 loss in overtime, Jan. 27. The Eagles led 26-18 at halftime but pulled away with a 26-16 third quarter.
Eastern had three players score in double figures, led by Loera’s 15. Lawrence added 13 and Alexander scored 10.
Eastern improves to 13-2 in the Big Sky and 23-5 overall with a road trip to Montana ahead. They face the Grizzlies (11-4, 19-7) in Missoula, Feb. 29. And then the Bobcats (9-6, 15-13) in Bozeman, March 2, one of two teams to hand Eastern a conference loss.
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