Second Quarter is the Difference in EOU Victory
Visiting Eastern Oregon outscored The Evergreen State College by 17 points in the second quarter and carried that momentum to a 63-50 Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball victory on Friday night in CRC Gymnasium.
After a close first quarter, the Mountaineers (15-8 overall, 11-3 CCC) hit four three-point field goals in the second quarter, two by Jordan Klebaum. At the same time, the Geoducks (3-16, 3-11) shot just 1-for-14 in the period, that field goal by Gabi Fenumiai.
After trailing 34-16 at the half, the Geoducks - down to just seven players because of injury problems - put out a spirited effort in the final 20 minutes. After trailing by as many as 21 points early in the fourth quarter, they whittled their deficit to nine points on a couple of occasions. That was as close as they would get, however, as the Mountaineers iced the game at the foul line. Eastern Oregon hit six consecutive free throws inside the final 28 seconds, including four in a row by Nikki Osborne.
Uriah Thomas finished with a double-double for the Geoducks, scoring 14 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Gabi Fenumiai tallied 13 points for Evergren, which shot 38 percent from the field, including 1-for-9 from beyond the three-point line.
Eastern Oregon's Madeline Laan led all players in scorng with 15 points,and she was followed in double figures by Maloree Moss with 13 and Nikki Osborne with 10. Moss, EOU's point guard, led her team with eight rebounds.
The Mountaineers shot ust 33 percent overall but they hit eight of thier 27 attempts from beyond the three-point line. They also took the rebound battle, 43-36.
Evergreen is back in action at 5:30 p.m. Saturday when it hosts College of Idaho in CRC Gymnasium.