E. Washington downs Tech women

By The Standard Staff - 11/12/2006

SPOKANE — The Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team claimed its season-opening contest by a 75-69 score over Montana Tech after breaking away from a 67-all tie with 2:02 remaining. The game was played on Friday at Spokane Community College.

In a very even contest statistically (EWU shot 42.9 percent, while the Orediggers shot at a 41.8 percent clip), the Eagles’ leading point scorer was Joanna Chadd, who tallied 16 points. Also in double digits were Brittney Osborn (14) and Katy Baker (13).

Rebecca Gimeno, a Spokane product, had 11 points in the first half for Montana Tech. The half ended in a 34-all tiel Leading rebounders for Eastern were Baker (7), Osborn (5) and Jessica Huntington (5).

Eastern Washington also served a dominating presence inside, as evidenced by its 10-0 block advantage. The squad was led in that category by Nicole Scott (4) and Tara Holgate (3).

Montana Tech took the early advantage in the contest by jumping to 13-4 and 15-6 leads, its largest advantages of the contest. After the Orediggers held a 30-22 lead with 4:28 left in the first half, Eastern went on a 12-2 run to take a two-point just before halftime, 34-32. The score at the break was 34-all.

At the beginning of the second half, Montana Tech took a 43-40 lead, but Eastern Washington stormed back by going on a 14-2 run to grab a 54-45 edge, its largest of the game. After Montana Tech rallied to tie the contest, 62-62, with 4:24 left, the squads stayed close until a 67-all stalemate with 2:02 remaining. At that point, EWU ran off seven straight points to go up, 74-67, with 35 seconds left on its way to the 75-69 win.

Note — Only a first-half boxscore was available from Eastern Washington. No final stats were posted.