Sports Briefs

BASKETBALL

Eagle women winless on Hawaii trip

HONOLULU — The Eastern Washington women escaped the rain but not a pair of losses in their trip to play in the Bank of Hawaii Classic.

Eastern saw a late tally fall short in a 59-57 loss to St. Mary’s, Nov. 22 and then 67-55 to the host Rainbow Wahine, Nov. 24.

Eastern trailed 48-39 after three quarters and the Eagles’ 18-11 edge in the final 15 minutes was not enough.

Peyton Howard had a game-high 14 points, shooting 41.7% from the field against the Gaels of the West Coast Conference. She also contributed six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Jaecy Eggers followed with 13 while Breeje Schuler added 10 points, both career-bests.

A slow start again proved costly in the end for Eastern in their matchup with the Rainbow Wahine where the Eagles trailed 38-26 at halftime.

Howard’s 14 points was the only Eagle in double figures.

Eastern shot 36.2% overall and 35.0% from beyond the arc but struggled to match Hawaii’s dominance inside, with the Rainbow Wahine holding a 36-24 edge in points in the paint.

Eastern, 1-5 in preseason games, was back in Cheney Nov. 27 to play CSU Bakersfield. They are in Brookings Dec. 4 to face South Dakota State in a segment of the Summit League Challenge.

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MISC.

Eagles marketplace official NIL outlet of EWU Athletics

CHENEY — Eastern Washington University athletics announced a partnership with OpenDorse to create the Eagles NIL Marketplace. The partnership between EWU and Opendorse will provide student-athletes with support in pursuing NIL (name, image, likeness) opportunities. 

The Eagle marketplace will help to facilitate connections between student-athletes and interested third parties. The marketplace promises to mobilize the EWU fan base and local organizations to best support its student-athletes.

 Eastern’s marketplace will include a directory of student-athletes who are interested in utilizing the service. Student-athletes can then customize their profiles and promote them through their personal social media accounts. 

The Eagle Marketplace is active and can be viewed by visiting the link https://opendorse.com/ewu-eagles.

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Ganter Jr. named Jerry Rice Award finalist

CHICAGO – Eastern Washington’s Derek Ganter Jr and the redshirt freshman is seeing the rewards of his efforts as he was named as the finalist for the Jerry Rice Award.

This award honors the top freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision.

The last Eastern player to receive this award was Cooper Kupp in 2013.

SWIMMING

Cheney swimmers in top-10 at state

CHENEY — FEDERAL WAY — Cheney girls swimming returned from the state 3A championships with several top-10 finishes at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way, Nov. 21-23.

Lauren Howe in the 100-Freestyle finished seventh in a time of 53.73 seconds and eighth in the 50-freestyle at 24.56.

The 400 Free Relay team of Joyalise O’Dell, Acacia O’Dell, Madi Bauman and Howe was seventh in 3 minutes, 46.22 seconds.

The Blackhawks 200 Free Relay team of Sage Schaefer, Bethany Bleam, Bauman and Howe were 10th at 1:44.78.

In addition, Medical Lake’s Jess Richards was ninth in the 500-freestyle in a time of 5:46.06.

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VOLLEYBALL

Eastern in conference tournament at No. 5 or 6

CHENEY — Eastern Washington volleyball closed out their Big Sky Conference regular season schedule with a pair of 3-0 losses to Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado.

On Nov. 21 in Flagstaff, Eastern lost 25-19, 25-21, 25-20 and then in Greeley, Nov. 23 dropped a match by scores of 25-18, 25-23 and 25-23.

Against the Lumberjacks, Bri Gunderson led the Eagles offensively with seven kills, hitting .235, and added two blocks. Defensively, Sadie Bacon recorded three blocks, while Morgan Blazzard posted a team-high 11 digs.

In the regular season finale The Eagles were led offensively by Kalista Lukovich and Quincy Moran, who each recorded eight kills. Gunderson added seven kills, while defensively, Kate Hatch and Jannie Blake each posted seven digs. Gunderson also led in blocks with four.

 The Eagles next travel to Sacramento for the Big Sky Tournament, Nov. 27-29. Eastern will enter play as either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed.