La Grande, Ore. – The No. 4 Eastern Oregon women’s basketball team Defeated No. 16 College of Idaho in the NAIA basketball game of the week, 60-50.
Tonight’s win clinched the Cascade Collegiate Conference title and earned the Mountaineers an automatic berth to the NAIA Division II National Championship.
Kelsea Hurliman led Eastern (26-2, 16-0 CCC) with 20 points, shooting 5-of-9 from the three-point line. Jorie Freeman added 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Korrie Bourn contributed 11 points and 6 rebounds.
College of Idaho (17-7, 13-3 CCC) was led by Katelin Shannon with 15 points and 5 rebounds, while teammates Falicity Jones and Chakala Carthen each finished with 10 points respectively.
In the first half Eastern jumped out to an early five point lead before College of Idaho came back to tie the game at seven with 12:15 on the clock. Hurliman sparked the Mountaineers offense with back to back threes as EOU went on an 8-0 run to open their lead to 15. Eastern would go into the locker room up, 32-17.
EOU shot 13-of-24 (54%) from the field in the first half and 5-of-12 (41%) from behind the arc. The Yotes shot 6-of-18 (33%) from the field and 0-of-4 (0%) from the three point line.
The Mountaineers came out in the second half and continued to control the game increasing their lead to eighteen early on. Midway through the half, EOU saw their largest lead of the game after a jumper by Freeman which put the Mountaineers up 19, 52-33. College of Idaho would go on a run with just under five minutes to play but it was too little too late as EOU would hold onto their double digit lead sealing the 20th straight win for the Mountaineers, 60-50.
EOU finished shooting 23-of-46 (50%) from the field and 7-of-21 (33%) from the downtown. C of I shot 17-of-43 (39%) from the field and 1-of-10 (10%) from behind the arc.
Eastern will play again next Friday, Feb. 15 as they travel to Warner Pac, game time is set for 5:30 pm. Live stats and video will be available at EOUsports.com