Lady Eagles get revenge, top Lady Griz

When the Eastern Washington Lady Eagles invaded Dahlberg Arena they looked to redeem themselves from a loss in early January. Senior guard Chene Cooper led the Lady Eagles as they overtook the Lady Griz for only the fourth time at home Thursday evening 67-57.

The Lady Griz (11-9, 4-3 Big Sky Conference) struggled for a dominant player to emerge as the game headed into the second half down 32-20. Junior guard Kenzie De Boer covered former high school teammate and conference leader in scoring Brianne Ryan as the Lady Eagles opened up with the first points (12-9, 6-2 BSC).

Cooper continued to command in the second, scoring numerous jumpers but making her mark on the game in the end with her free throws. With 1:06 left in the half Cooper was fouled on four times by Griz players Torry Hill and Jordan Sullivan.

"She always seemed to be at the right place at the right time," Hill said on playing with Cooper. "It's hard when they have Ryan, who contains her as well and you focus on her so much that you kind of forget about Cooper, and I think that's how she got all her shots."

Hill contributed 14 points and two assists while junior Alyssa Smith gained momentum throughout the second half. From her slipping and sliding until the end Smith racked up the most points at 16 and added two assists.

"It just ran away from us," Smith said. "And we were battling, battling, battling. Defensively too, man-to-man, we don't play a whole lot of man-to-man and we have been a lot this year. We definitely need to come together on defense and start communicating more."

Throughout the game Montana players had their moments, but their defense was not up to par with the Lady Eagles potent offense. The ball kept getting knocked out of their hands, and a couple players had some spills.

For a team that has been bouncing up and down with its shooting percentage, the Lady Griz came out in the middle of their last three games with percentages at 35.2.

"They really had us out of synch," head coach Robin Selvig said. "They played well offensively the first half, they hit threes and they got steals for transitions that got them layups."

This was the third lead loss for Montana as it begins to head into a stretch of conference games that will determine who makes it to the Big Sky Championship. So far Idaho State is sitting atop the standings with Montana in fourth.

alexandria.valdez@umontana.edu