CALDWELL, Idaho - Mountaineer Women's Basketball suffered its fourth straight loss on Saturday afternoon as the team dropped a hard fought 73-70 contest to 24th-ranked Montana Western. The loss puts Eastern Oregon's record at 2-4 now on the year.

How it Happened
• Both defenses played well limiting one another to under 45% shooting. EOU had the edge at 40% (26-65), while Montana Western (5-1) shot 39.7% on 27-68 made shots.
• Helping the Bulldogs secure the win was second chance points. They had 19 on 15 offensive boards while EOU had 14 on 16 rebounds. EOU had the overall edge in rebounding 44-39.
• UMW did force 17 EOU turnovers and had just 11, Eastern scored more off the turnovers at 16-11. Both squads made 12 three pointers in the contest and shot over 35%.
• The Mountaineers got out to a quick lead in the first with an 8-2 lead. The lead grew to as much as seven for EOU when the team went up 14-7 with 6:19 to play in the quarter.
• The Bulldogs battled back in the final five minutes to keep things close. UMW used a 5-0 run in the final 3:54 to cut the Mountaineers lead to three, 18-15, going into the second.
• The 5-0 run for the Bulldogs grew to 14-0 as they scored nine straight points to start the second and led EOU 24-18 to force a timeout.
• The UMW run was enough to keep the team in front the rest of the frame. EOU trailed by as much as 10 in the frame when the Bulldogs jumped ahead 34-24. 
• The Mountaineers managed to get within four late in the second when Adyson Harris drew contact on a made layup and made the free throw for the and-one attempt. Her efforts made it a 36-32 game before UMW made a pair of free throws to lead 38-32 at the break.
• Coming out of the halftime break, EOU held UMW to just nine third quarter points to make it a battle going into the fourth.
• The two squads traded three pointers to start to make it a 41-35 game, but it was not until late in the frame when the Mountaineers surged ahead on the Bulldogs. 
• A layup by UMW with 2:36 to play in the quarter pushed the lead to eight points, 47-39. Then the run for the Mountaineers began.
• An 11-0 run by Eastern started with a pair of Macie Elliott free throws and was capped by her nailing a three ball in the final 11 seconds. Triples from Harris and Taylor Stricklin added to the run and EOU went into the fourth leading by five, 52-47.
• The Mountaineers pushed their lead to eight a pair of times in the first two minutes on three pointers from Stricklin. She gave the team a 55-47 edge to start and made it 58-50 at the 8:48 mark.
• UMW responded with a 7-0 run to cut the EOU lead to one, 58-57, before a jumper by Haley Robinett made it a 60-57 game. The Bulldogs then pieced together an 8-0 run to jump ahead 65-50.
• The Mountaineers managed to tie the game at 65-all but never retook the lead. A triple from Stricklin in the final 31 seconds got EOU within one, 71-70, but UMW held on with a pair of free throws to escape with the three-point win.

Mountaineers Stat Leaders
• Taylor Stricklin led all scorers with 26 points on 8-17 shooting. She was 50% (8-16) from deep and grabbed seven rebounds.
• Adyson Harris rounded out the double-digit scoring with 13 on 5-13 shooting. She also had six boards and five assists.
• Both Sailor Liefke and Macie Elliott chipped in seven points in the loss, while Elliott had five assists.
• Haley Robinett led the team in rebounding with eight and added six points.

For the Bulldogs
• Jenni Weber tied the team-high in scoring with 17 points. She shot 6-15 overall and was 5-12 from beyond the arc. She also grabbed seven rebounds.
• Lilly Gopher matched Weber in points and rebounds with 17 and seven, respectively. She shot 7-11 from the field and had a blocked shot as well.
• Mesa King added 10 points in the win to go along with six boards and a pair of blocks.
• Sydney Sheridan also had 10 points. She went 3-4 from the field and 2-3 from deep.

By the Numbers
8 - EOU took just eight free throws in the game, which is the lowest of any contest this season.
4 - The Mountaineers have grabbed 40-plus rebounds in each of their last four games.
6- Eastern racked up a season best six blocked shots in Saturday's game.
26 - Taylor Stricklin's 26 points are an EOU career-high for a single game.

Up Next
• Eastern will have a quick turnaround as the team will be back in Caldwell on Tuesday, Nov. 23 to take on College of Idaho in its conference opener. Tip-off against the Yotes is set for 4:30 p.m. PT.

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