First place Northern Colorado outlasts Eagles in overtime

Mckenzie Ford

Bella Cravens and Leya DePriest cheer on the team late in the game against Northern Colorado on Monday. The Bears are yet to lose in Big Sky play this year.

By Drew Lawson, Reporter
January 8, 2019

Mckenzie Ford
Freshman guard Grace Kirscher drives the ball against Norther Colorado on Monday. Kirscher scored 14 points and a team high four made 3-pointers.

Kapri Morrow’s 21 points and seven rebounds weren’t enough for EWU at home on Monday night, dropping its third straight game conference game to Northern Colorado 67-62 in overtime.

The Bears (4-0, 9-4) outscored the Eagles (1-3, 2-11) in the first quarter 19-16, but shot 50 percent in both the second and third quarters to take a two point lead into the final period.

“We competed,” Morrow said. “That shows what we can do. We didn’t rebound down the stretch.”

The Eagles shot three of 14 from the field in the final quarter, for just 21.4 percent. EWU head coach Wendy Schuller had several reasons for the fourth quarter shooting woes.

“I think it’s a few things,” Schuller said. “I think it’s fatigue, it’s teams settling in and figuring out what you’re trying to do, and then I thought we got out of what we were doing well all game long offensively. We lost our flow a little bit. We also missed some really good shots.”

With 10 seconds left in regulation, EWU trailed by two points. They gave the ball to their senior leader, Morrow, who delivered with a bank shot over two defenders to tie the game and send it to overtime. In overtime, EWU was outscored 9-4 as UNC escaped Cheney with the victory. Schuller gave one main reason for the overtime struggles.

“Rebounding,” Schuller said. “I decided to go with a little bit smaller lineup, more for offensive purposes. That’s on me for not going with the bigger lineup that would help us on the glass. I did think we had some kids on the floor that could handle that. I’m anxious to see the film to see what was the issue with the boards.”

UNC grabbed eight rebounds in overtime to five for EWU. Schuller’s smaller lineup in the extra period put Morrow, Uriah Howard, Alissa Sealby, Brittany Klaman and Grace Kirscher on the floor. The lineup managed just four points, shooting 1-8 from the field and 0-5 from three point range.

The Eagles will now head on the road looking to turn their season around, taking on the University of Montana in Missoula on Jan. 10. The next home game is in Cheney against Portland State at 11 a.m. on Jan. 24.