The 2012-2013 EOU Mountaineer women’s basketball team turned in the most remarkable season in team history. The ladies went undefeated throughout the conference, 18-0, and then swept thru the Cascade Conference tournament championship. At nationals, EOU advanced to the elite eight for the second time in team history, before being narrowly edged-out by perennial national power Davenport-MI. In comparison, the expectations for the 2013-14 season may have been unreasonably high, considering the team graduated five of the six best players. Still, concerns that the 2013-14 Mountaineer ladies could climb as high were wiped away by a stellar first-half of the season.
The season opener at Walla Walla University on October 22 was a dominating performance in which EOU hit on 54% of a gazillion shots in a 104-48 rout. A few days later, the first home games were held versus New Hope Christian College, who EOU easily took care of on back-to-back nights. It is often hard to gauge much by early season out-of-conference games. Teams like Walla Walla and New Hope, with combined season records of 7 wins and 41 losses, are complete mismatches for EOU, serving primarily as a warm up to get up to speed for the conference schedule.
Often, there is more consolation in a loss than a blow-out victory. November 1, at the Spokane Classic versus Montana State-Northern, EOU was down by seven points late when Brittney Newcomb converted a three-point-play only to have that followed by a miss on a last ditch three-point attempt to tie the game at the end. Though MSN won 58-55, it was no minor feat to stick with the higher division team. The Sky Lights started out the season with eleven straight victories, with the three-point win over EOU being the only game decided by less than ten points. MSN went on to finish with a 20-8 record, third place in the Frontier Conference and #21 ranking for NAIA D1. In the conference quarterfinal, MSN led Carroll from start to finish, but then lost toLewis-Clark in double-overtime in the semifinals. The night after EOU nearly turning out the Lights, the Mounties re-asserted themselves with an eight-point victory over Great Falls to improve to a 4-1 early season record.
The Mountaineers then shifted into higher gears, starting with a one-point loss in an exhibition game at Northwest Nazarene. EOU was then right back on the road for the Simpson Tournament in Redding in mid November. Hope International decimated EOU with a stout defense that limited the Mounties to 27% shooting, while the top two Royal scorers combined for more points than the entire EOU roster. Like MS-Northern, HIU is another strong NAIA D1, ranked #17, fourth place in the Golden State Athletic Conferencewith an overall record of 20-9. EOU rebounded the next night beating host school Simpson by 22 points. It was not as if the rebound games to Great Falls or Simpson were bad teams that EOU took advantage of. Both teams went on to respectable seasons, culminating in appearances in their conference tournaments as well.
The Mountaineers returned to Quinn Coliseum on November 23 for a rematch versus Walla Walla, which saw the Mounties inflict more torture on the Wolves. EOU got off to a 20-0 start to cover the first 7:00 of the game. In the second half, EOU held the Wolves scoreless for stretches of three minutes, four different times. Every player on EOU’s roster scored in the game, which EOU owned 122-44, for the most points scored by EOU since at least 2005.
The Mounties traveled to Caldwell at the end of November for the Lady Yote Classic, which featured another big 62-point victory over Walla Walla, followed by a nine-point loss to the Puget Sound Loggers of the NCAA DIIINorthwest Conference. By the time the eagerly-awaited Cascade Conference schedule opened in early December, EOU had put together a tough earned 7-3 record.
As with most of EOU’s early season schedule, the conference season opened on the road. December 6, EOU opened in Olympia with a 92-76 win over Evergreen for one of the hottest shooting nights EOU would have this season. They hit 60% as a team and were lead by Newcomb’s 32 and NicoleRedd’s 19 points. The next night in Kirkland, EOU cruised to another blowout win 71-48 over Northwest, aided by a 22-2 run to start the second half.
The Mountaineers played two final out-of-conference games in Walla Walla at the Kim Evanger Raney Classic where they played unquestionably the two toughest opponents of the entire season in mid-December. EOU managed to split the two games, beating Whitworth by six points and losing toWhitman by thirteen. Whitman went undefeated throughout the season and were ranked #1 when Whitworth beat them in the NWC championship game. Whitman finished with a record of 26-1, Whitworth 20-6. Improbably, Whitman and Whitworth met each for a fourth time in the second round of the NCAA DIII national tournament, in which Whitman decisively settled the season series. The win secured yet another two rounds of regional site sweet sixteen games to be staged in Walla Walla. On the home court, Whitman was able to advance to the final four by setting down undefeated Thomas More.
Not to shabby of a boast to say that EOU was able to hang in games with both Whitman and Whitworth on the road, technically “neutral” site games. With all but three games of the first two months on the road, and most of those games versus higher league teams, EOU had compiled a quite honorable 10-4 record.
The Mountaineers proper homecoming happened after fall term had ended. EOU had managed to pull in a #24 national ranking by December 20 when the first conference games were played at Quinn. Though EOU had claims to best in conference, they suddenly found themselves in an underdog position. Southern Oregon and Oregon Tech both came to town ranked higher than EOU. The Mounties, noticeably without forward Taylor Riley from that point on, not only responded well, but had their most dominating performance of the season in easily putting away then-#14 Southern Oregon. EOU had a 21-point halftime lead and never let SOU closer than 18 points in the second half. It was another 30-point stat line for Newcomb in a 102-78 spanking. The next night, Oregon Tech came to town ranked #12 and had just lost their first game of the season at College of Idaho. OIT was humbled by a strong EOU defensive front, 68-50. Newcomb again provided the bread, butter, milk and potatoes with 29 points, including 16-16 on free throw shots.
The conference schedule continued after the first of the year with the Portland trip in early January. With a fast developing defensive core and more big offensive nights from Newcomb, EOU had little trouble setting downConcordia, 80-64, and Warner Pacific, 86-53 on back-to-back night.
Back at Quinn on January 10, versus College of Idaho, who has been EOU’s biggest rival, fans were treated to a thriller. College of Idaho may have had more fans than EOU did, as they filled half the upper deck with a cheering section and their mascot. The game was wire-to-wire throughout. Nikki Osborne played hero that night with a buzzer beater in the first half that kept the Mounties with a manageable three-point halftime deficit. At the end of the game, it was Osborne again on an underneath inbound pass for a quick put-back to give EOU an 85-83 lead with three seconds left. The Yotes’ half-court buzzer-beater clanged off the back of the rim and EOU held on for the win.
The next weekend, EOU finished out the first half of the conference schedule by beating Northwest Christian 71-56 and Corban 73-61. Kelsey Hilland Maddy Laan started to get more involved by that point and were making big plays. Senior Nyesha Joseph played heavy minutes in the front court early in the season, followed by junior Kassy Larson getting in the mix more in the later part of the season.
By the mid-point of the season, EOU had asserted control of the standings with a 9-0 conference record and 17-4 overall record. The Mounties pushed through all the conference games with conviction and appeared an unstoppable with amazing depth on the defensive and offensive ends of the court. The Mounties had advanced the Cascade Conference record win streak to 29 games, had a home win streak that stretched back even further and climbed to a #13 national ranking. There was nothing standing in the way of yet another memorable undefeated conference season and high seed in the national tournament.
Except the Mountaineers own play.
It would be a bit unfair to say that EOU had a meltdown in the second half of the season because they still had a winning second-half record versus some significantly improved teams. But by the Mountaineers own standards, with such a long conference winning streak, almost anything other than another perfect season would be under the bar. So things did not come crashing down, but began to crumble. The Mountaineers’ comfortable midseason lead in the standings shrunk week-by-week, until they ultimately held on to win the conference on the last night of the regular season. Considering second half records, EOU finished 5-4, which was good for a fifth-place tie with Northwest. Oregon Tech had a monster-sized season, particularly in the second half when they went 7-2, nearly claiming the top spot in the regular season finale. Southern Oregon, College of Idaho and Evergreen also had second half surges and grew to be nearly unbeatable themselves. Suddenly, EOU had competition and were not alone in the race to rule the CCC.
The second-half started at Klamath Falls on January 24 versus an Oregon Tech team on a mission. It wasn’t enough that the OIT mascot,Hootie, beat Monty in the mascot challenge, or that the OIT men’s coach Danny Miles won his 1000th game in his 43rd season as head coach of the Hustlin’ Owls. No, the OIT women’s team proved to be the glory story for 2014. Their remarkable run continued with a complete shutdown of the EOU offense. While, EOU still played tight inside to hold the Owls to 58 points, they saw their 29-game conference win streak end in Klamath Falls. The next night, EOU offense got back on track versus Southern Oregon as they outran the Raiders 89-80.
The Mountaineers returned to Quinn for matchups against the two worst teams in the conference, but they would not be able to advance their lead in the standings. EOU thrashed Warner Pacific using many different player contributions, specifically Kelsey Hill’s double-double and yet another 30-point Newcomb outburst. EOU had a 22-point halftime lead and set the cruise control in the second half. It would be the last game of the season that EOU put away in the early stages. A string of poor first-half performances would force the Mounties to fight in the second half of games, which no doubt took a toll on the team down the stretch. The Mounties had beaten Concordia by 16 points in Portland to keep them mired in last place, but at Quinn, EOU was given fits. On their trip east, Concordia won at College of Idaho and followed that up the next night by becoming the first team to beat EOU on the Quinn court in 33 games. The loss appeared to sting, as it sent EOU into a relative tailspin. EOU lost at College of Idaho and then at Corban to be knocked back for a three-game losing streak, games that the Mounties executed fairly well defensively, but were unable to match their early season offensive production and mount the final comebacks to claim victory.
The Mountaineers were able to turn around and get out of the funk with a win at Northwest Christian the night after the Corban loss. Big play by Laan on both ends and some key early shots by Parrish and Hill made it seem as if EOU was the same dominant team that had just gotten over a head cold. They followed the NCU win by beating some pretty tough Northwest and Evergreen teams to close the season on a three game win streak. Still, those last two wins were not easy. EOU fought back from halftime deficits in both. It took until about 5:00 left in the Northwest game, and then the final minute of the Evergreen game, to secure victory. The Evergreen game was a three-point affair that could have gone to overtime, had the final desperation half-court shot that the Geoducks fired up at the buzzer not banged off the front of the rim.
While EOU eeked out wins in the final two games, Oregon Tech was crushing Concordia and Warner Pacific by more than thirty points each. That’s why they say a win is a win. EOU was still the conference champion with a 14-4 record, compared to OIT’s 13-5 record. That gave EOU an automatic berth in the national tournament in Iowa and home court advantage in the conference tournament. But Oregon Tech had bigger plans and EOU would not get to settle their season series tie with Oregon Tech in the post-season however.
In the first round of the conference tournament, the Mountaineers played pretty tight versus Northwest Christian. They did not put the game away until late on a barrage of three pointers by Redd, Newcomb and Moss. Still, the Mounties were assertive all night and owned the tempo of the game. Newcomb, Laan and Osborne had huge performances to give EOU some momentum to start the post season.
Then, suddenly, the wheels fell off in the second-round game versus Southern Oregon on February 28. The Mountaineers had beaten the Raiders seven straight times and none of those were close. EOU had won the six previous home meetings at Quinn by an average of 22.5 points. The last two times in Quinn, EOU had throttled SOU; the late December 102-73 whipping and 2013’s second-round tourney matchup 83-55. It would expect to be more of the same considering the way the Mounties had been playing, but the Raiders had gained a lot of strength. They had two of the top six scorers in the conference and two others behind them even that had recent 30-point games to their credit. The hot shooting Raiders wore EOU out all night, having leads by as much as 24 in the second half, finally claiming an 18-point win. Meanwhile, Oregon Tech pulled out a win versus College of Idaho and was allowed to host SOU for the tournament championship. OIT, who had started the season on a fifteen game win streak, beat SOU in the conference final to finish the season on a seven game win streak and went into the national tournament with a #18 ranking and five-seed compared to the Mountaineers #23 ranking and six-seed.
At Iowa, the Mountaineers matched up with the Moundbuilders of Southwestern-KS, who they had beaten by 32 points in the first round the year before. However, times had changed and Southwestern came in as a three-seed. EOU executed nicely on defense with every player and used that as a catalyst to come back from a double-digit deficit with under ten minutes left on the clock. With a manageable shot of taking the lead late, EOU lost in the most excruciating of ways for a fan, lack of execution. Kassy Larson’s two missed free throws would have given EOU the lead with 4.1 seconds remaining. It proved to be the last hurrah for the Mountaineers on the season, but if anyone wanted to bad mouth Kassy Larson, they need only consider what a huge part she played in the defensive front that shut down Southwestern late in the game. In fact, Larson and Newcomb were the two bright spots in the two losses to close the season.
All is never lost, and there was a lot to be proud of. The Mountaineers again were as competitive as any other team in the nation. The spirit and composure they held in the final game in Iowa and the presence of Larson and Joseph inside was a good indicator of what kind of versatile line ups Coach Anji can put together. Newcomb, being known for her marksmanship on offense, also played under-appreciated defense. Redd as always is someone a fan wants running their team, while Moss grew into her own game-by-game as the next EOU point guard. All in all, the Southwestern game was delightful to get to watch, only sad in the final score. For what it’s worth, all five Cascade Conference teams that went to nationals lost in the first round and EOU came closer to winning than any of the others.
Oregon Tech ladies kept a good pace with Purdue Calumet in their first-round game, but Purdue took control in the second-half and the Owls could not complete a fair comeback attempt. The OIT ladies are 0-2 in tournament history. In the men’s bracket, Northwest Christian lost handily, as probably to be expected in a tourney debut, versus a deeply talented Cornerstone team with a couple national titles to their credit. Concordia had one of the ten best players in the league, but were unable to add much to their historical record in the tourney. College of Idaho nearly won their game and, from a biased perspective, got cheated with the selection of their opponent. As the number two team in the nation lost to an unseeded team, it seemed a major feat. But by the conclusion of second-round games, the top four men’s teams had all lost! Indeed, it was not a fun, or even probable, ending for most of the good teams, EOU included. In the dogfight to be the best, someone has got to lose and that can be anyone at anytime. EOU comes as close as any team year after year.
Alternate Player of the Year and Appreciation for the Coach Anji Dynasty
It would be a little foolish to suggest that anyone other than Nicole Redd was the driving force to this team, and Brittney Newcomb added the extra attacking dimension that made EOU so intimidating. At the same time, Brittney was the conference player of the year, so it should stand to reason she was her own team’s best player. Jumping away from that argument, it would also be inaccurate to not correlate EOU’s late season play to the success of Nikki Osborne.
Osborne played admirable defense in 2013 as a freshman, the national championships included. In 2014, she was the backbone of the defense. This was certainly not because of her size. She is not small at 5’10”, but she plays tough as nails and size won’t impress as much as raw skill. Intangible factors such as fundamental prowess and intuition for the game describe Osborne’s presence on the court. She has hands that each seem the size of basketballs with magnets imbedded, such that even against larger opponents she comes away with the ball no matter which way it way it goes. Her zest of spirit is also second to none and she leads from the bench as well as she does underneath the basket. No matter how bad the outcome of a game, Osborne can always make people feel cheered up. She has fun and it is infectious.
The fact that Nikki Osborne led the Mountaineers in rebounding (by a lot) is a testament to her all-around positive performance. The fact that she led the team in rebounding while averaging just over 23 minutes per game is out of this world crazy! Examining the other 17 minutes per game in which she was not playing, it becomes very evident that Osborne’s presence on the court was the dealmaker in the success of EOU.
Osborne was noticeably absent in the two most shocking losses for the Mountaineers. In that first home loss versus Concordia, Osborne played only 13 minutes. She was in the game late, but fouled out with a minute and a half remaining and EOU down by two points. EOU could not stop Concordia the rest of the game to pull out the win. In the next home loss, in the semifinals versus SOU, Osborne played 14 minutes, and only five in the second half. With Osborne virtually non-existent, so too were the Mountaineers. Every offensive momentum swing EOU tried to mount to get back in that game went in vain because there was nothing EOU could do defensively to stop SOU. No one held on to the ball. EOU looked as confused trying to pick up the ball as SOU did assertive in taking as many shots as EOU would allow them. At one point, with about five minutes left, a missed SOU shot fell under the basket in between four white jerseys, yet somehow the red jersey outside ended up with the ball and put it back for two more points. It was that kind of onslaught the entire second half. Even Redd made an uncharacteristic drop that shot out of bounds late in the game.
Osborne also did not join the team on the trip to Salem and Eugene. EOU could not hold off Corban the first night and then barely held on to beat the last-place NCU the second night.
With Osborne back playing at her season average for minutes, EOU won three straight games, two by double-digits. In the first playoff game versus NCU, I even let superstition rule the void when my usual seat 33 had already been sold when I arrived at Quinn. Instead, I bought seat 55 and told the ticket ladies that Nikki Osborne would win the game. That wasn’t exactly her role, but she still blew the roof off Quinn that night. Even in the SOU loss, all the Mounties played better individually, and as a defensive unit, with Osborne in the lineup. It was Osborne’s contribution that directly afforded Redd, Newcomb and Moss so many opportunities.
So, when I ask myself, where would the team have been without any certain players, three main ones seem absolutely imperative. Would the Mounties have made another trip to nationals without Newcomb? I don’t think I’d like to find out the answer. Would they have made it without Redd? The Magic Eight Ball says, “Concentrate and ask again.” Would they have made it without Osborne? They barely made it with her. That home win versus College of Idaho alone meant the difference between going to nationals and staying home. Fairly speaking, in that regard, most of the players on the roster were instrumental in several wins as EOU is never a one-dimensional attack, but without those three impact players it would have been an extremely long season.
All we can really determine is that, while it may not have been pretty every moment, EOU was still the best team in the conference. They still won twenty or more games for the tenth time in fourteen years under Coach Anji. Plus, Coach Anji also won her 300th game! Phenomenal. That is an average of 21.4 wins per year. The crowning achievement was the eighth trip to the national tournament. No matter how high EOU may set the bar for their own expectations, the Mountaineers teams, both the men’s and the women’s, not to mention all the rest of the amazing things the other sports have done, it was no question another first rate season. If a fan gets a season as good as this year, as Coach Anji has brought here year after year, then that is more than the money’s worth.
Early Prognosis on Next Season
The Mountaineers are losing about 65% of the offensive production. While it sounds daunting to replace, remember that they had much more to replace last season. Other than Redd, Newcomb and Joseph, EOU is a young team and returning a fair amount of talent.
Last year, EOU lost five seniors Randall, Hurliman, Bourne, Jones and Freeman, as well as a few others that might have been expected back, like Miller, Neilsen, and Kramer. In fact, Jessica Kramer looked to be the most fit and certainly logged more hours jogging La Grande in the summer of 2013 than any one on the track or cross country team. But the junior ended up playing for the Whitworth Pirates instead. Add in the mid-season departure of Riley and the Mounties had half last year’s roster to recover and added basically only four new players to make up for the nine they lost, two transfers and two freshmen.
The major immediate gold mine this season was in senior transfer Newcomb who won conference player of the year to act as a replacement for last year’s player of the year Randall. Junior transfer Kassy Larson basically replaced the production of Jorie Freeman, whose uniform #32 she also claimed. As far as long-term investment, the two main freshmen to the fold were Payton Parrish and Lauren Mills. EOU could approximately alleviate the loss of the guards, but the lack of big plays underneath was a critical difference. Still, only losing three players with a solid foundation of mostly juniors and sophomores, the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers look nearly ready for 2014-15 as is.
As is, the Mallory Moss show next year will be a change of pace. For a fan, that is quite appealing. The development of Moss has been my favorite part of being able to watch EOU basketball for the last two years. She is not fast, though she has shown aggressiveness inside. Moss is deliberate and exacting. Her style of play seems quite complimentary to that of Mills and the two together, as part of a first-team offense, would appear a good base. Jeni Hoffert, although she rarely played down the stretch, would be a logical transition to a faster, punchier second-team offense featuring Hill and Parrish. Hill also has the versatility as a three inside to create a serviceable defense with Osborne, Laan and Larson. With the two current red shirts, the guard position could have enough to work with next year. It would be instant success if EOU could pull in another potential CCC player of the year as a slasher or some big inside hands. If EOU could find a clone hybrid of Korrie Bourne/Chayla Jones, then that would open up everything and separate from the competition to another CCC championship and berth to nationals.
Southern Oregon appears to be on a mission that only began with the resounding win at Quinn in the post season. They have a few years worth of anger to unload and a very deep, very capable roster to get down that road. The Raiders figure to be the team to beat going into next season. But it would be a mistake to look past Oregon Tech’s rise to the top as well. College of Idaho and EOU are always key players as well, and next season will no different. As we know, Coach Anji could take anyone off the street, put a jersey on them, and make them look fairly decent. With 21 wins per season over her career, it is apparent that she knows what to do with whatever hand she is dealt. EOU is a challenger now, as is, but a key transfer or two and another couple promising freshman to the pool will be the difference maker in maintaining conference superiority and building the dynasty.
