RECENTLY...
The first round of the CCC Playoffs began a week ago, and we are out of the running. Playing
the #8 seeded Cascade College, and without Tiffanie, it was just too much and Cascade walked out of Quinn with a ticket to
round two. In front of the best crowd of the year, Cascade won the game 67-66 in exciting fashion. Although
we held as much as a 17-point lead in the second half, Cascade never gave up, which is what teams who have nothing to lose do.
After a great three-point play by Salena with under a minute left, we were up by two points and called a time-out.
Cascade rose to the challenge and came out with the mind set that they were going for the win, not the tie. Well unfortunately
they somehow found a wide open wing for the winning three-pointer. We did have a last chance to score as Elise got the ball
into Jen and Jen drove half the length of the court and got a shot up, which just fell short.
Even though we lost the game, we are still Co-Champions of the Cascade Collegiate Conference
and are still heading to Souix City. Nobody likes to lose, but this group of girls has accomplished a lot in this long season--more
than I think lot of people expected. We head into the National Championship Tourney with an impressive 24-5 record,
and ranked 24th in NAIA.
***
Saturday turned out to be a night of endings and beginnings...it was the
end of the regular season for the mounties, yet it was the first time this year that Whitney put on her uniform. In a great
atmosphere-- senior night against Northwest Christian could not have been scripted much better than how it actually turned
out. The chance for EOU to have both the men's and women's CCC titles lied it our hands, as the men had already clinched theirs
the night before when OIT lost. Playing NC, who is 8-12 in conference, was no easy task; especially on senior night when emotions
ran high. Injured seniors Laura and Whitney suited up for the game, and were announced as honorary starters--however, they
were in for more of a surprise. Eastern led the entire game, and although it was a little close for comfort the
whole way, we pulled out the win 75-68 behind Tif's 29 points and 11 boards. But before the final buzzer sounded, Coach W
walked down to the end of the bench where the injured girls had sat the whole game, and told them she wanted them to check
in. With 12 seconds left in the game, Eastern got a rebound and Coach called a timeout. Holding back tears the girls walked
out on the court--for whitney it was the first and last time this year--for laura, it was her first time being on the floor
with whitney this year, and the last time she would play as a mountie. The play was fairly simple, although NC was pressing,
Tif tried setting a pick on two girls to try and get an inbound pass for whitney from laura... the pass came into bre, then
to tif, then to whit. With a second remaining, she threw the ball up in the air, and the team stormed the floor. We are
the cascade conference regular season champions of 2008, but with tickets to Souix City already paid for our work is
yet to be done. Our first playoff game is this Tuesday against Cascade at home.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TEAM, TO THE SENIORS, AND TO COACH WEISSENFLUH FOR HER FIFTH CCC TITLE
IN A ROW, SEVEN IN EIGHT YEARS OF COACHING!
***
Tuesday we played our rival from down the road, College of Idaho. In a stressful game that went
back and forth the whole way, Elise hit a nice three-pointer right before the buzzer to give us a lead going into the half.
Thank goodness for Sheena, having a career night with 31 points; for our free throw shooting, 37-41; and for all of our fans
and alums who drove the couple of hours to support us! We won the game 82-73, sweeping C of I this season. This Saturday
is our last regular season home game, as well as Senior night! Also, it is confirmed that Laura has torn her ACL, strained
her MCL, and will miss the rest of the season. Congrats Laura on a four-year career at EOU, you will be greatly missed out
on the floor.
***
Saturday left a sour taste in all of our mouths as not only did Evergreen State upset us to
win the game, but we may have also lost Laura to a season-ending ACL injury. Down 25-32 at half time, we rallied behind one
three pointer from Jenny and two from Elise in the second half, but it wasn't enough. ESC hit a three pointer with 25
seconds left to give them a two point lead. We couldn't convert, were forced to foul, and lost the game 67-63. Tif led in
scoring again with 16 points.
***
Last Friday we played Northwest U on the road and cruised to a 53-39 win. Although NU has only
two conference wins under their belt, it was back and forth until about the ten-minute mark in the second half.
Tif led the way with a double-double (16 points & 12 boards), while Sheena chipped in with 15 points as well.
***
Saturday we played Corban College winning 72-54, our third win in a row. The first couple of
minutes of the game went back and forth, but like the night before, we slowly pulled away and led 39-27 at the half. Bre led
in scoring with 16 points on 6 for 8 shooting. Salena added 12 points and dished out ten assists, and was two boards
shy of a triple double. Eight different players scored for EOU in the win, including four in double figures.
***
On Friday we played Concordia U for the second time; the first time they handed us our first
conference loss. This time it was a different story. Up by as many as 26 points in the first half, it was a much different
game and things seemed to be going our way. We shot 53 percent from the field, and ended up winning 77-65. Sheena and
Tif proved they are a dangerous duo down low, leading in scoring with 22 and 19 points respectively. We are now 13-2 in CCC
play.
***
Tuesday we played Multnomah Bible and it was a great opportunity for
some of the girls who haven't seen much game action in a while. Only seven girls got out on the floor, and three of them posted
double-doubles. Sunshine had a game-high 34 points, going 15-21 from the field. Calli Jo had 20 points and 17 rebounds, Amanda
had 15 and 10, and Grace had 15 and 16. Alyssa was just one board shy from a double-double with 20 points and nine boards.
The final score was 106-43, but there were many other impressive stats: we out-rebounded them 69-17, and shot 60 percent from
the field for the game. Kudos to the bench as well for keeping it exciting!
***
Heading into the second go-around in conference play, EOU was sitting in first place, one game
ahead of Southern Oregon.
Facing OIT on friday, we managed to hold off the Owls behind a double-double from senior Elise
Hawes. It was a game of runs, but some big free throws by Salena and Tif sealed the deal; 56-50. Not bad after a nine hour
bus ride the night before and breaking two windows-- thank goodness for duct tape!
***
On Saturday, it was a match up between the top two teams, a win by SOU would tie them
with us for 1st place in CCC. Well, that's exactly what happened as we just couldn't stop all of
SOU's offensive weapons.
Even with Tif scoring 24 and pulling in nine boards, the closest we could get was within six
points with four minutes left in the game.
This is our second CCC loss, which puts us at 12-2 in conference, 18-3 overall.
***
