Defense rules the court as the Eagles defeat Gauchos

CHENEY — The last hurrah for Eastern Washington women's basketball in 2024 was on Reese Court tonight and they closed out the non-conference schedule with a return to a familiar formula for success. Eastern defeated UC Santa Barbara, 54-46, on Friday night behind a strong defensive effort through all four quarters. EWU finishes its non-conference slate with a 4-8 record, while the Gauchos fall to 7-5.

"We felt like our defense was locked in and we didn't want to change that too much at halftime. Our goals were to make it difficult for [Alyssa] Marin to score," head coach Joddie Gleason explained. "She's such a good player with multiple 30-point games this season and she draws fouls well. We wanted to keep her off the three-point line and didn't want to foul her when she went to the basket. Our players did a nice job containing her. We challenged the team at halftime to win the third quarter because we haven't been doing that. We've been tight with teams in the first half and then lost the third quarter, leading to losing some close games."

The Eagles held UCSB to 26.7% shooting in the game and 2-of-22(9.1%) on three-point shots. The Gauchos never shot above 40% in any quarter.

"We wanted to recognize the tendencies of different players. Our assistant coaches do a great job with our scouts and our players do a great job understanding the scout," Gleason added. "We know the personal and tendencies of our opponents. That allowed us to force some of their players off the three-point line and others we can close out shorter to try to take away their ability to drive. It's simple things like those that led to some pretty good defense at our end."

Eastern's offense struggled to score in the first half, but found a rhythm in the second. Alexis Pettis scored a game-high 17 points, one shy of her career-best. She was 7-of-16(43.8%) from the floor.

Kourtney Grossman delivered a stand-out performance in her young career, scoring 15 points and pulling down 17 rebounds, both new career-bests.

"I want to step into confidence if I'm open to step up and hit the shot. My teammates set me up with pretty good passes so it was easy to make those shots," Grossman described. "We focused on that third quarter in the locker room. We had to focus on the spots we were weaker in during past games and make them stronger. I think it's important to just have fun. I feel like it's a lot easier to play well when you are loose and having fun. I'm super blessed and grateful to have this opportunity, while having fun with my teammates. I just try to get a little better every day by looking at what I need to improve and lock-in on improving in those areas."

The teams traded points to start the game with Eastern leading early, 4-3. UCSB took the lead and went up 8-5 with 4:56 on the clock. The Gauchos led by as many as six in the quarter, but the Eagles pulled it back to four at the end of the first. EWU trailed 13-9 despite shooting only 20% from the floor.

Eastern looked to move in front of UCSB in the second quarter and they opened strong with four-straight points, getting scores from Paris Kirk and Rachel Harvey. The Gauchos then pushed the lead back to you four at 17-13 with 3:34 remaining in the half. A 5-2 stretch from the Eagles put them in a position to tie and take the lead going into half. Peyton Howard made two free throws to take the lead and Eastern went to the half up 20-19. They shot 28.6 percent in the quarter.

Grossman was slinging the ball out of the half, going 3-for-3 on three-point shots to build a double-digit lead through the first five minutes. The Eagles had established a 39-23 lead, following a 23-4 stretch, going back to the second quarter. UCSB used a 6-2 run to cut the lead down to close the half, but Eastern had taken control in the game. They led 41-31 following a 50% shooting mark in the third.

With the lead, EWU continued to score to maintain its lead. The Eagles led by as much as 16 in the quarter, holding a 49-33 advantage at the 5:44 mark. Pettis connected on a turnaround jumper to build the lead. The Gauchos trimmed the lead down to 10 over the next two minutes. Grossman delivered again with a jumper for a 12-point lead. UCSB fought down the stretch, but Eastern was able to stay in front and won the game, 45-46

BOX SCORE: 

EWU:9: 9, 11, 21, 13 54
UCSB: 13, 6, 12, 15 46