EOU Women’s BBall – Cascade Conference Champions!

La GrandeStand Notes for the week of 2/24/2014

Women's Basketball

The Mountaineers came back from a slump in the second half of the season to a rousing conclusion, winning the final three games of the regular season.  They have also won the Adidas Team of the Week for the Cascade Conference. 

On Friday, EOU beat Northwest 77-66.  Nyesha Joseph, who had minimal playing time down the stretch, saw a lot of action Friday night and scored 17 points on 7-8 shooting.  Nicole Redd led all scorers with 20 points, starting with a three-pointer to tie the game early at 11-11.  Then the Eagles took flight.  Several momentum shifts saw Northwest go up by 13 points, 30-17.  EOU chipped away at the lead and trailed by three, 32-29, at halftime.  In the second half, EOU fought back quickly to gain a 40-39 lead, followed by another momentum shift as Northwest went on a 9-0 run to take a 48-40 lead.  From there, EOU took control with a 9-0 run and then later a 15-2 run to take a 70-58 lead to basically seal the game.  Brittney Newcomb scored 15 points and was huge on defense, leading the team with 6 rebounds as well as a block and a steal.  Nikki Osborne saw a return to action this weekend with a big night to score 14 points on 5-5 shooting, with 4 assists and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes.

Saturday was Senior night, with Redd, Newcomb, and Joseph all starting their final regular season home games.  Newcomb led all scorers with 21 points, most coming on 5 three-pointers.  Redd also scored 16 points on only seven shot attempts, hitting all three of the three-pointers she attempted.  Osborne pulled in a game high 9 rebounds.  It was a nerve-wracking nail-biter as EOU has been accustomed to of late.  Each team exchanged big runs, culminating in an 11-2 run for Evergreen that put them up 36-32 at the half.  The Geoducks continued to apply pressure in the second half as well with a 6-0 run to take a 42-32 lead.  They held a nine point lead with 8:00 remaining.  But then EOU mounted a furious charge.  Redd hit a three-pointer from the wing, and then following an EOU defensive rebound, hit another three from the corner.  Newcomb then added two three-pointers of her own to pull EOU into a 56-56 tie with 3:19 left in the game.  Malloree Moss then hit a three pointer that sealed the deal.   EOU defense held strong over the last two minutes and Evergreen’s halfcourt shot at the buzzer clanged off the front of the rim as EOU held on to a 63-60 win.

The victory over Evergreen sealed the regular season conference title for EOU, and with it home court advantage in the conference tournament as well as an automatic berth to the NAIA D2 national tournament in Iowa.  First round of the conference tournament begins at 7:00pm tonight in Quinn. Second round is Friday, February 28. Final is Monday, March 3.

Some final regular season statistics & matchups:

EOU is 14-4 in conference and 22-8 overall.  Oregon Tech is second at 13-5, 25-5 overall.  College of Idaho gets the third seed and Southern Oregon the fourth, both teams with 12-6 conference records.  EOU will face the Northwest Christian Crusaders at Quinn Coliseum tonight night in the first round of the Cascade Conference playoffs.  EOU swept the season series when they beat NCU by twelve, 78-66, in Eugene the weekend before last.  EOU won the January 17 contest in La Grande 71-56.  Also tonight, Corban plays at Oregon Tech, Evergreen at SOU, Northwest at College of Idaho. If all home teams win, then Southern Oregon would come to EOU for the second round.

Nicole Redd started all 30 games for EOU.  Brittney Newcomb led the team, and the conference, with 22.7 points per game.  Redd scored 13.0 per game.  Newcomb hit 92 three-pointers (.325), Redd hit 57 threes (.380) and freshman Payton Parrish hit 34 threes (.400).  Redd led the team with 100 assists and 60 steals.  Kassy Larson led the team with 16 blocked shots.  Taylor Riley, who only played the first half of the season, had 12 blocks.  Nikki Osborne dominated the boards for EOU with 164 rebounds, including 108 on defense.

Men’s Basketball

The men’s team took out Evergreen 79-69 on Saturday, senior night, in what was the final game at Quinn for Tony Eackles Jr, Kyllian Wood, Craig Tucker and Kevin Attila.  Kyllian Wood erupted for an EOU season-high 41 points, on 13-15 from the field, to go with 15 rebounds.  For his dominant weekend performances, Wood was named CCC basketball player of the week.  Eackles also put up 20 points. The game featured several several second half lead exchanges, until EOU went on an 9-0 run to take a 75-65 lead with under a minute to play.

Friday, the men faced a more formidable opponent in Northwest.  Eagle guard Michael Greene came into the game shooting 63%, third best in the NAIA.  He led all scorers with 25 points, but was well contained through stretches, including one memorable exchange in which Johanson blocked two Greene shots on the same possession.  EOU defense had little problem with the rest of Northwest.  EOU held the Eagles to 24 first half points, leading 34-24 at the half.  The Eagles mounted two second half comebacks to keep the game close.  Attila added a big three-pointer with 5:13 to play that put EOU up by four points.  EOU was then held scoreless for over two minutes, until Trever Phillips put EOU back on top 58-57 with under a minute to play.  Northwest scored a bucket while holding EOU on the next two possessions for the win.  Phillips shot at the buzzer was no good.

Saturday’s huge win was a very assertive sendoff for the boys.  However, the loss at Oregon Tech back on January 24 is still haunting EOU in the standings.  The Mountaineers finish the season with the eighth seed in the playoffs, and will travel to one-seed College of Idaho tomorrow night.  That game will be a pretty hefty mismatch, though EOU has held their own in the two previous games versus the Yotes.  EOU lost by thirteen points in a fairly one-sided second half in Caldwell on February 7.  The Yotes won by 12 points here in La Grande on January 10.  College of Idaho is ranked #5 in NAIA D2 and has won twelve straight games, beginning with that January 10 win here at EOU and the final win being Saturday over Evergreen.  In that game, the Yotes were down by 22 points at halftime, but still beat the Geoducks by 13 points to finish with a 14-0 home record. 

College of Idaho is 14-2 in conference play and 25-5 overall.  Concordia finishes second and SOU third, both teams at 11-7 in conference.  Should EOU pull off the upset at Caldwell on Wednesday, they would most likely be looking at a return to Portland to face Concordia where they lost 93-79 on January 3.

Some Mountaineers statistics:
Eackels and Johanson both started all 28 games for EOU.  Attila led EOU with 31.0 minutes per game and with 107 assists.  Wood led the team with a .550 field goal, while dominating the paint with 249 rebounds.  Wood also led the team with 109 of 144 free throws (.757).  Eackles led the team with 70 field goals (.455) and 17.6 points per game.  Tucker led EOU with 55 three-pointers (.325). Johanson had 64 blocked shots.  Eackles and Tucker tied for the team lead with 26 steals.

Track & Field
Washington Sate open

Harley McBride won the CCC indoor athlete of week, for the second time this season, by breaking her own school record in high jump at 1.68 meters to place second in that event.  The 60m race featured Roneika Robinson and Kadie Booth again fighting for the school record.  They both beat the previous record that they both had set last weekend, with Robinson edging Booth out by .03 second last weekend, setting the new school record at 7.91 seconds.  In the finals, Booth beat Robinson by .01 second.  Talitha Fagen came an inch short of the pole vault record she also had set last weekend.

NAIA indoor track and field national meet, March 6-8, is the next event for qualifiers from EOU.

Softball

Season opener was on Friday vs Northwest Nazarene in Nampa.  EOU won the first game 3-2, but lost the second 10-3.  Spokane Falls CC transfer Lindsey Walchi got the first hit and scored the first run of the season. She also gave up two earned runs over eight innings to pick up the win on the mound.  In the second game, she gave up 8 runs, but only 1 run earned to take the loss.

Saturday, EOU beat British Columbia 10-9 and then beat Great Falls 4-3.  Walchli picked up the win vs BC despite giving up nine earned in eight innings.  Walchli also went 1-2 with 2 rbi and 2 walks. She scored the tenth, and decisive run, in the sixth inning.  Lily Smith started the game vs Great Falls, giving up one run in four innings for the win.  Walchli pitched three innings, giving up two runs in picking up the save.  Katie Martell was 2-3 with a two run homer to center field. 

EOU thus stands at 3-1 on the young season under new head coach Betsy Westermann.  They play their first home game on Friday, March 7 vs. Clackamas Community College at 3:00pm.  A scrimmage is scheduled for 1:00pm that day.