Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Brooklyn Palmer and Jordan Buscarini
The Lady Eagles began their weekend at the Bruin Classic in Taylorsville, Utah on Friday, Nov. 25. They started off with a 72-66 win against Eastern Wyoming.
Despite a slow start, the Lady Eagles were able to fight back and gain a nine-point lead going into halftime. Eastern stretched that lead in the third quarter. Eastern Wyoming showed hope in the fourth quarter, but not enough to close the gap. The Lady Eagles pulled away with the six-point win.
Three players scored double digits for the Lady Eagles. Brooklyn Palmer led with 25 points, followed by Kacelyn Toomer with 11 points. Annie Stinar added 10 points and three assists. Janel Blazzard had nine points and Maci Wall added eight points and four assists. Hailey Meek had three assists.
USU Eastern dominated the boards, grabbing 52 rebounds to Eastern Wyoming’s 28. Maci Wall led the Eagles in rebounding with 15. Brooklyn Palmer and Brinlee McRae each grabbed nine boards. Olivia Nielson had four rebounds while Annie Stinar and Kacelyn Toomer each had three.
USU Eastern completed a two-game weekend trip with a 66-54 loss to Odessa College, snapping a five-game winning streak Saturday afternoon at Salt Lake Community College.
Returning to the court a day after topping Eastern Wyoming College, the Lady Eagles struggled out of the gate. Faced with a 27-14 deficit at the end of the first quarter, USU Eastern was forced to play from behind the rest of the way.
The Lady Eagles managed to outscore Odessa in the next two quarters, but could not overcome the double-digit deficit, dropping to 6-3 on the season.
Freshman Annie Stinar led the way for USU Eastern as she scored nine of her 11 points from the three-point line. Brooklyn Palmer chipped in with eight points and five rebounds, while four others finished with six points in a balanced effort.
As a team, USU Eastern shot an efficient 48.9% from the field, including five makes in 13 attempts from beyond the arc. The Lady Eagles managed to out-rebound Odessa on both sides of the court.
Despite winning nearly every major statistical category, USU Eastern struggled to take care of the basketball as they accumulated 28 turnovers. Odessa gathered 19 steals, leading to 24 points.
With the first nine games of the season now in the books, USU Eastern will open Scenic West Athletic Conference play Saturday, Dec. 3 on the road against the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.