EWU women’s basketball improves to 10-1 in conference, 16-7 overall, after winning two conference games this week against Northern Arizona University and Southern Utah University.

EWU won against NAU on Feb. 4 with a score of 72-65. They continued winning into the next game, beating SUU, 64-53.

The game against NAU had a slow start while one of Eastern’s stars, redshirt senior Hayley Hodgins, was scoreless until midway through the second quarter, and NAU’s star, Alyssa Rader, was dominating in the paint and the scoreboard. EWU went into halftime down by 2 points and already had 10 turnovers in the game.

EWU looked like they came out of halftime ready to prove why they are No. 1 in the conference. They shot 53 percent from the field in the second half, compared to the first half when they scored 33 percent. EWU broke out a press which caused NAU to turn the ball over multiple times, allowing EWU to score 23 points off of turnovers.

Both sophomore forward Delaney Hodgins and redshirt junior guard Tisha Phillips scored 15 points, and freshman forward Ashli Payne scored 14 points. Hodgins was close to recording a double-double, having nine rebounds as well. Freshman center Amira Chandler played a big role in the game, scoring 8 points and having six rebounds coming off the bench.

“Tonight wasn’t our best offensive performance overall, and our basic half court execution wasn’t great. It was nice that our press got us going in the second half. It allowed us to force some turnovers, and I thought it energized us and got us revved up,” head coach Wendy Schuller said.

The next game against Southern Utah started off slow for the Eagles. After shooting 35 percent from the field in the first half, EWU found itself down by 10 points in the third quarter.

In the final quarter of play EWU trailed, 43-41, but found its groove when it had the largest lead of the game, 60-47, with less than two minutes left in the game. EWU shot an average of 40 percent from the field for the game and 21.1 percent from the 3-point arc.

Both Delaney Hodgins and Hayley Hodgins tied for the lead scorers, scoring 19 points each. Phillips scored 10 points, while also being the team leader in assists with six.

Hayley Hodgins has now scored in double-digits for 39 straight games. She is 58 points behind Brenda Souther (1983-87) to become Eastern’s all-time NCAA Division I leading scorer.

Based on her current averages, Hayley Hodgins is expected to break the record at home on Feb. 18 against Sacramento State. Her 1,663 career points moved her up to 13th of all-time on the Big Sky Conference career scoring list. She is now ahead of WSU’s Melanie Knott (1988-91).

The Eagles will continue their conference play on the road next week against North Dakota on Feb. 11.