CALDWELL, Idaho – A trio of double-digit scorers led Eastern Oregon to a 64-58 win over The College of Idaho on Friday night in the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
Behind the efforts of leading scorer Beverly Slater, who contributed 16 points and 7 rebounds, the Mountaineers (1-1) were able to pick up a hard-fought road victory. Sailor Liefke added 15 points and Jillian Albright posted 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Yotes (4-12) were fittingly led by the efforts of senior forward
Kiersten Rasmussen on Senior Night, as she scored a team-high 14 points to go along with seven rebounds, three blocks and a steal.
Fellow senior
Kate Renfro hit a pair of key 3-pointers to ignite the offense early in the second quarter, giving C of I a 19-13 lead with 9:22 before the half.
Eastern quickly answered back with a 16-2 run to make it 29-21 with 2:17 left in the second.
Back-to-back layups by
Kaylee Krusemark and
Tayla Sayer along with a free throw by
Allie Cannon brought the Yotes back closer to within 31-26 heading into the locker room.
In the second half, junior forward
Sienna Riggle sparked a 9-2 run for C of I to end the third quarter with a trio of baskets, cutting the Eastern edge to 48-46 entering the final 10 minutes.
With 6:24 left in the fourth, Cannon was fouled on a 3-point attempt, with the sophomore draining all three to give the Yotes a 54-52 advantage.
A Maddy Juul layup for EOU just over a minute later evened things up, with the visitors finishing the contest with a 10-4 stretch.
In addition to Rasmussen on the inside, Riggle finished with nine points, three rebounds and a steal.
Cannon and
Jada Reed each contributed seven points.
Eastern shot 26-of-57 (46 percent) from the floor and were limited to a 3-of-15 (20 percent) mark from downtown. C of I shot 18-of-53 from the field and 5-of-16 (31 percent) from the perimeter while also hitting on 17-of-18 (94 percent) free throws.
The Yotes begin the Cascade Conference Championships next Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT at Lewis-Clark State. Full game information will be shared early next week.
