By Cory McKendrick, USU Eastern Sports Information Contributor
The Utah State University Eastern women’s basketball team, which was crowned the Scenic West Athletic Conference Co-Champion the weekend before, were knocked out of contention by the host College of Southern Idaho in their first game of the Region 18 conference tournament. The #2 seeded Eagles lost 70-68 in the hard-fought game.
Turnovers and a tough third quarter proved to be the difference in the game for the Eagles. Eastern had 19 turnovers compared to the nine of CSI. The Eagles were also cold from three-point land, shooting 15%.
After an early 18-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 34-28 lead at halftime, CSI came out of the half firing on all cylinders. CSI outscored USUE 30-16 in the third quarter. The Eagles outscored CSI in the fourth but it wasn’t enough to overcome the third quarter deficit.
Kinlee Toomer had 14 points and nine rebounds in the loss. Margarett Otuafi added an additional 14 points and eight rebounds. Emmery Wagstaff put in 12 points of her own to go with her seven rebounds and Kacelyn Toomer chipped in 10 points and four rebounds.
The history-making season came to an end in the Region 18 tournament for the Lady Eagles. The Eagles posted the best single season record and won the first regular season conference title in program history. Head coach Chelsey Warburton was also named Coach of the Year in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.
Margarett Otuafi earned first team all-conference and player of the year. She averaged 13.1 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. Morgan Toluono also earned first team all-conference as she averaged eight points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game and 1.9 assists per game. Emmery Wagstaff earned second team all-conference. She averaged 10.1 points per game while shooting 42% from the field.
Kacelyn Toomer and Harley Carlisle earned honorable mention honors. Toomer averaged 7.8 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting 31 % from the three-point line. Carlisle averaged 6.8 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game with 52% of her rebounds being offensive rebounds.