EOU Mountaineers Win CCC Title
Mountaineers Slip Past Yotes In Another Classic I-84 Battle For CCC Tournament Championship
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The No.3 ranked Eastern Oregon women's basketball team defeated the No. 17 College of Idaho, 69-68, in the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship game tonight at Quinn Coliseum.
Senior
Kelsea Hurliman led the Mountaineers(31-2, 18-0 CCC) with 17 points and 2 assists. Senior
Brooke Randall added 15 points and 9 assists and
Jorie Freeman added 15 points and 5 rebounds.
The Yotes(21-8, 15-3 CCC) were led by Senior Laura Geis who finished the night with 15 points and 2 rebounds. Junior Dayna Drager finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
The first half of play was as even as a game could get, with 7 lead changes and 4 ties. The teams would exchange baskets for the first 7 minutes of play, with the Yotes leading 12-11, with 13:44 on the clock. The Mountaineers would eventually tie the game at 25 a piece from a free throw by
Chayla Jones and head into the locker room down 31-30.
Eastern shot 9-of-28 (32%) from the field and 4-of-10 (40%) from the three-point line in the first half. College of Idaho shot slightly better from the field going 12-of-33 (36%) and 3-of-8 (37%) from the three point line.
The Mountaineers opened the second half on a 9-2 run but fell behind by 5, 49-44, with 9:57 to play. The Yotes widened the margin to 8 with just over five minutes to play and looked to be in control of the game. Behind the tumultuous crowd, the Mountaineers would go on a run and tie the game at 66 with a three-pointer by Hurliman with 1:24 to play.
On the ensuing possession the Yotes' Felecity Jones would miss a three and give EOU possession with 51 seconds to play. EOU's Randall would hit a tough running floater as the shot clock expired to give the Mountaineers a two point lead with 0:20 seconds to play.
The Yotes would look inside to Katelin Shannon but she would miss which forced the Yotes to foul sending EOU's
Nicole Redd to the line where she'd make 1-of-2 giving EOU a 69-66 lead with 0:07 seconds to play.
The Yotes would get one last chance to tie the game, as Jones would come off a screen for a three pointer that sailed wide. Teammate Chakala Carthen would then grab the rebound and score under the basket as the final buzzer sounded giving the Mountaineers a 69-68 victory.
Eastern shot 22-of-53 (41%) from the field and 7-of-16 (43%) from the three-point line for the game. College of Idaho shot 26-of-66 (39%) from the field and 5-of-16 (31%) from the three-point line.
The Mountaineers will be in action again on March 6
th when they travel to Sioux City, Iowa to play in the National Championship.