CHANDLER, Ariz. – No. 20 Eastern Oregon kicked off play at the Cactus Classic in Arizona with a win over Montana State University Northern. While the offense came back down to earth, Eastern Oregon's defense remained steady helping lead the Mounties to a 68-42 victory over the Lights. With the win Eastern moves to 9-1 on the year and increases their win streak to seven.
Bayley Brennan continued right where she left off, accounting for a third of the Mounties' 18 first quarter points thanks to a couple of deep balls to get the EOU offense moving. From there the Mounties slowly pulled away, they jumped out 18-7 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was much of the same as Brennan knocked down another three ball for the Mountaineers' first points. Eastern spread it around with six players getting on the board as the Mounties took a 36-16 lead at the half.
Northern couldn't cut into the lead the rest of the way as EOU pulled away even further in the second half although the Lights matched Eastern's 16 points in the third quarter. With a comfortable lead EOU worked their way to 68-42 final score with seven different players scoring points in both the third and fourth quarter.
EOU will return to action tomorrow morning for their final game of the Cactus Classic taking on Montana Tech at 10 a.m. MST. The two teams met at the beginning of the season with the Mountaineers taking the victory, 76-55.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The Mounties held a 17-rebound advantage and relied on 14 offensive rebounds to account for 13 second chance points
- Eastern's defense continues to shutdown opponents holding Montana State Northern under 30% shooting from the field and beyond the arc
- Northern struggled from the line shooting 4-9 on free throws
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
