By Elohino Theodore
Team improves winning percentage over holiday break, collecting four consecutive wins to boost season to a .500 winning percentage.
The EWU women’s basketball team had a chance to improve their record after a slow start at the beginning of the season.
The Eagles would however go on a four game winning streak in the first few weeks of December after going on a five game losing skid in the month of November.
“We had figured out some stuff teamwise and we just [have] really come together,” senior guard Aubrey Ashenfelter said.
The Eagles played their first game of the holiday season against Cal State Northridge on Dec. 6, where they won 73-53. During the game against Cal State Northridge, EWU dominated for most of the game, leading by as much as 24 points.
Eastern would go on to lead by at least 20 points. Senior center Laura Hughes scored a career high of 21 points, sophomore guard Hayley Hodgins would chip in 15 points and junior guard Lexie Nelson would contribute 13 points and a career high of seven assists.
According to goeags.com, head coach Wendy Schuller thought the Eagles played a well-rounded game. “I thought it was a great team effort. I thought our whole team bought into what we were trying to [do] defensively,” Schuller said.
Following their first win of the season, EWU earned their second win against the University of Idaho. Very different from their first win, the Eagles would win a close game against Idaho, 85-84.
Ashenfelter would go on to score the winning basket with two seconds left in the game. “I was just kind of in the zone. I don’t normally take game winning shots, it’s normally Lexie [Nelson] or Hayley [Hodgins], it was a great win for us,” Ashenfelter said.
For this game, the Eagles shot 52 percent, and Ashenfelter finished with 20 points to tie her career high. Hughes finished with 17 points, while Nelson contributed 16 points.
For Eastern’s third win in a row, they competed against Northwest University on Dec. 17. The Eagles would go on to dominate for the second time during their winning streak, beating Northwest, 90-48. Nelson would have a game high of 21 points. Freshman guard Tisha Phillips contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.
On Dec. 20, Eastern beat Boise State 81-66 to get their fourth straight win of the season. By halftime, Eastern would run away with it by opening up a 15-point lead for 10 minutes of the second half.
Nelson scored a career high of 27 points, Hodgins scored 14 points, Ashenfelter had 12 points and Hughes also contributed with 10 points and a season high of eight rebounds.
EWU would have their winning streak end at the hands of Portland State on Dec. 29, losing 86-74.
The intensity of the game rose in the second half; the first seven minutes consisted of six ties and eight lead changes. The Vikings would push their lead to eight points to allow them to outscore Eastern for the rest of the second half.
Continuing her consistent holiday scoring, Nelson scored a career high of 29 points. Hughes chipped in with 16 points and grabbed five rebounds, Ashenfelter contributed with nine points and three blocks and Hodgins had a career high of nine rebounds.
On Jan. 2, the Eagles played Weber State where they pulled a 78-67 victory. Nelson and Hodgins each scored over 20 points to help Eastern come up with their fifth win of the season.
Eastern would get their sixth win of the season to earn a .500 winning percentage against Idaho State on Jan. 4.
Nelson scored 18 points, while Hodgins finished with 19 points. The Eastern bench outscored Idaho State’s bench 15-10.
Junior forward Melissa Williams is aware of what the team needs to do to in order to climb to the top this season. “We’re definitely still working on our defense and just building off of that. We don’t really have problems with our offense, that flows pretty well,” Williams said.
