The Eastern Washington University women’s and men’s basketball teams failed to capture a win during their doubleheader on Sunday, Nov. 19.
The two teams played back-to-back games, beginning with the women at 2:00 p.m. against the University of Portland. The Eagles held multiple leads throughout the game but ended up losing 74-62.
Portland guard Maisie Burnham continued her strong start to the season against EWU. She is currently averaging a career-high 17.7 points per game and scored a season-best 22 points against Eastern.
Graduate student guard Peyton Howard led the Eagles in scoring with 16 points. Howard has become Eastern Washington’s first scoring option this season. The former Seattle University Redhawk is averaging 15.8 points per game.
Eastern Washington won the first quarter 21-12. Senior guard Alexis Pettis scored 7 of her 9 total points during the period. Pettis, who has played all four seasons with EWU, is currently averaging a career-best in every statistical category but free throw percentage.
Portland came back during the second quarter and tied the game 36-36 going into halftime. Burnham and senior guard McKelle Meek helped the Pilots by scoring 7 and 5 points. Meek, who is shooting 46.2 percent from beyond the arc this season, made one of her two three-point shots.
Howard and Portland sophomore guard Rhyan Mogel were both key contributors during an extremely close third quarter. Howard scored 7 points and Mogel scored 5. Both players made layups in the last minute of the quarter, and Portland ended with a one-point lead.
The Eastern Washington offense went cold during the fourth quarter, allowing the Pilots to pull away. The Eagles scored just 10 points, while Burnham and Mogel combined for 11 of Portland’s 21 fourth-quarter points.
After a 30-minute warm-up, the men’s team faced Cal Poly. At one point in the second half, Eastern was down by 22 points.The Eagles almost came back but ultimately lost 82-78.
Redshirt junior guard Nic McClain was a double-edged sword for EWU. He made 10 of his 12 shots and scored 28 points while also getting 5 assists and 4 steals. On the other hand, he turned the ball over 7 times, the most in the game.
Sophomore guard Mason Williams and senior guard Andrew Cook each scored 12 points for the Eagles. Cook, McClain, and Williams have been the top three scorers for Eastern Washington this season, with all three averaging double-digit points.
EWU and Cal Poly were separated by just one point in the second half, and a seven-point lead by the Mustangs was the largest of the period. McClain made a three-point shot to give the Eagles a lead with 37 seconds remaining, but the lead would not hold.
Cal Poly’s senior guard Jarred Hyder, who is averaging a career-high 13.2 points per game, answered with a three-pointer of his own with just 2 seconds left on the clock to give Cal Poly a 34-33 lead. This was one of two three-point shots Hyder made out of 10 attempts.
The Mustangs came out for the second half firing on all cylinders and scored the first 8 points of the half. Senior guard Owen Koonce scored 14 of his team-high 19 points during the second half and helped Cal Poly take a commanding 69-47 lead with less than eight minutes left in the game.
With 3:30 minutes left, the Eagles made their move. Down by 13, Cook and Williams would combine to score the next 10 points in the game. McClain then made a layup, and the Eagles were down by just one point with 37 seconds left.
Freshman guard from Slovakia Peter Bandelj made two clutch free throws to push the Cal Poly lead to 78-75. McClain made a free throw to cut the lead down to one point, but Bandelj immediately made a layup to make the score 80-76.
McClain scored again with a layup to put EWU within 2 points of the Mustangs, but two more free throws from Bandelj gave Cal Poly an 82-78 lead with 14 seconds left, a lead that would remain when sophomore forward Vice Zanki missed a three-pointer for the Eagles.
Both the EWU men’s and women’s teams are now 1-3 to start the season. This week the men play Washington State University on Thursday, Nov. 21 at Spokane Arena in a game featuring multiple former Eagles, and Cal Baptist in California on Saturday, Nov. 23.
The women play in a tournament, the Bank of Hawai’i Classic, in Honolulu, Hawai’i. They will face Saint Mary’s on Friday, Nov. 22, and Hawaii on Sunday, Nov. 24.
