Eastern Oregon Women’s Basketball Named Team of the Week
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University women’s basketball team has been named “Team of the Week” for March 6-12, the Cascade Collegiate Conference announced Sunday.
Making their 10
th appearance in the NAIA DII Women’s National Tournament, the No. 9 ranked Mountaineers defeated No. 21 Dickinson State University and No. 8 Dakota Wesleyan to advance to the quarterfinals before dropping a close battle to No. 1 St. Francis (Ill).
In the first round 80-71 win against DSU four players reached double figures for EOU led by Stormee Van Belle and Maya Ah You Dias with 14-points followed by guards Reece Bauer and Darian Gasseling with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Against Dakota Wesleyan Ah You Dias finished with a game-high 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting to lead EOU to the 83-75 victory. Van Belle added 14 points to go along with eight boards, while Payton Parrish (14) and Donniesha Webber (11) also were in double digits scoring.
In the loss to No. 1 St. Francis Ashley Knight had career high 21-points to go along with 8-rebounds and a block. The Mountaineers started off hot scoring 23 points in the first quarter but could only muster 7 points in quarter two and 17 in quarter three and four combined. Despite the cold shooting EOU had a chance to tie the game on a last second shot at the buzzer that rolled off the rim in the 48-51 loss.
It was the second time in program history that EOU advanced to the round of eight at the national tournament, as well as, the second time the team reached the 30-win mark ending the season at 30-5. The season included a tie for the regular season championship with Southern Oregon with a record of 18-2 and a CCC tournament championship.