EOU sophomore Alyssa Garro shoots as Warner Pacific downs EOU 71-57.
LA GRANDE, Ore. - The #4 seeded Eastern Oregon University women's team were defeated tonight in the Cascade Conference tournament's first round to #5 seeded Warner Pacific College by a score of 71-57. The loss puts the Mounties at 18-10 to end the season while the Knights moved to 15-15 on the year and will live to play another day in the tough Cascade Conference.
The women struggled in the first half, shooting just 31.8% from the field and committing twelve turnovers. Junior posts Tana Stickney and Ashlee Michelson each scored nine points in the first stanza, but still trailed the Knights of Warner Pacific 33-27 at half.
The Knights did well inside, outscoring the Mountaineers 16-8 in the paint and had 12 second chance points. The bench for the Knights also performed well, scoring 14 points in the first half. Eastern was unable to recover in the second half.
Eastern cut the Knights second half lead to as little as six, but were unable to make a push beyond that. Eastern again struggled from the field, shooting just 30.8% in the second half. Four different Mounties ended up in double-figure scoring, led by juniors Stickney and Michelson with thirteen points apiece, while junior Salena Leavitt and freshman Brianna Smith had twelve points apiece.
The Mountie's lone senior, point guard Jenny Fiso from Orem, Utah, played well on defense in her last contest as a Mountaineer, but did not have a tremendous night offensively. For Warner Pacific, Kelsey Mattsen had a game-high seventeen for the Knights, as they out rebounded the Mounties 42-32 on the glass.
The Mountaineers did end the conference season with a 13-7 conference record and a season mark of 18-9. The team will now wait to see if they are selected for an "at-large" bid to the NAIA Division-II women's National Tournament.