The opening to the EWU women’s basketball schedule has included some of best teams in NCAA Division I. This has resulted in the Eagles opening the season 2-4. On Friday morning, in front of a home crowd that included over 2,500 children, the Eagles took out some of their frustrations on Multnomah University in a 88-42 victory over the NAIA Division II team.

All four of EWU’s losses have come against teams who made the NCAA tournament or the NIT in 2016. EWU suffered big losses to No. 10 Oregon and Gonzaga, but played both BYU and Boise State to close games. Their two victories came against Air Force and Utah Valley.

The Eagles were never in danger of losing on Friday. They beat Multnomah in almost every statistic.  They out-rebounded the Lions 41-24. EWU also outpaced them in: second chance points (24-0), bench points (25-0), points-in-the-paint (52-18), steals (17-2) and assists (19-3). The Eagles also prevented the Lions from making a single three-point basket the entire game.

Senior forward Delaney Hodgins led all scorers with 24 points in only 20 minutes of play. She shot well from the field, making 9-13 overall. Sophomore forward Uriah Howard added 18 points and eight rebounds. In all, 11 players scored for the Eagles, whose 88-point game is their season high.

Hodgins started off the scoring in the game, and the Lions were never be able to slow her down. By the end of the first quarter, she had 10 points, and the Eagles were leading 23-6. She sat out most of the second quarter, but still managed seven more points in the half. Additional scoring came from Howard and freshman guard Brittany Klaman, who finished with nine points and five assists.

The Eagles continued to pour it on in the third quarter, outscoring Multnomah 27-12. They took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter while they allowed time to run off the clock.

“I thought we had a nice opportunity today to play a lot of kids,” head coach Wendy Schuller said following the victory. “I thought we played hard for the most part. It was good to be able to get our young players some minutes and give our team some flow and confidence.”

Schuller also enjoyed the spark that the children in the audience brought to the game in EWU’s annual kid’s day matinee.

“I love the energy that this day brings,” said Schuller. “It’s a lot of fun for us to get to perform in front of a lot of kids from our region […] It’s great to get these kids on a college campus so they can see this world, and hopefully it gives them something to shoot for.”

The Eagles have one more game remaining on their three-game home stand. They host Cal Poly on Dec. 11, at 6:05 p.m.