Led by an explosive second half of offense, the Eastern Washington women’s basketball team defeated Sacramento State 89-80 on Saturday, Jan. 12. The Eagles scored 55 points in the final two quarters.
Nine days after scoring a career high 22 points, guard Ella Gallatin scored 23 against the Hornets. She averaged 2.2 points per game and 1.6 points per game in her first two seasons for EWU, but this year the junior is second on the team, with 10.1 points a night.
The Eagles saw a familiar face on the Hornets: Senior forward Jaydia Martin transferred to Sacramento State from Eastern Washington this season. Martin averaged at least 15 points a game in each of her first two years with EWU and averaged 6.8 points last year. With the Hornets, her scoring average is back up to 14.4 points per game.
Gallatin got hot early, making a three-pointer for EWU’s first points of the game. She made another shot from beyond the arc and a layup during the quarter as well, giving her 8 of the Eagles’ 15 first-quarter points.
Graduate student guard Peyton Howard was also a key contributor during the first quarter. She scored 5 points while also blocking a shot. Howard was Eastern Washington’s second leading scorer with 18 points in the game. She also led the team with 7 assists and 2 blocks.
The Hornets spread the ball around early, allowing them to trail by only one point at the end of the period. Five different players scored during the first quarter, led by junior guard Benthe Versteeg’s 4 points. Versteeg scored 21 points and had 5 rebounds and 7 assists in the game.
In the second quarter, Eastern Washington made four three-pointers en route to scoring 19 total points. Gallatin made two three-pointers and led the team with 6 points. The Hornets made a trio of three-point shots as well, and scored 17 points, making the halftime score 34-31 for the Eagles.
The third quarter was where EWU pulled away. The freshman frontcourt duo of Jaecy Eggers and Kourtney Grossman combined for 18 third-quarter points. Sacramento State scored 17 points during the quarter as a team. The Eagles scored 27 total points in the period and took a 61-48 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Hornets responded to Eastern Washington’s big quarter by scoring 32 points in the fourth. Versteeg and Martin scored 11 points each to try to erase EWU’s lead. As a team, the Hornets made 64.7 percent of their shots during the fourth quarter.
However, the Sacramento State was again unable to stop the Eagles from scoring. Due in large part to EWU’s 17 attempted free throws during the final quarter, Gallatin had 9 points. While Eggers and Howard each had 6.
Eastern Washington held on to the lead and captured their second conference win of the season. The women’s team now has an overall record of 6-10 and are 2-2 in conference games. The Eagles’ next game is on Saturday, Jan. 18 in Moscow, Idaho against the 11-4 (3-1 conference record) Idaho Vandals. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ and is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
