Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Cory McKendrick, USU Eastern Sports Information Contributor
The Lady Eagles of Utah State University Eastern battled the Golden Eagles from the College of Southern Idaho in what could have been a springboard into a first-place showdown from the BDAC on Saturday. USU Eastern came up short on the road at CSI, falling by a score of 55-63.
The game has concreted the top three spots moving into the conference tournament. With the loss on Thursday and a Salt Lake Community College win the same night, the Bruins have clinched the regular season title. SLCC improved to 9-2 with a win over Snow College and the Eagles fell to 8-3. With one regular season game remaining, USU Eastern will host SLCC for sophomore night on Saturday. A win for the Eagles would mean that SLCC would still be the regular season champion, because they own the tiebreaker over USU Eastern.
A loss for the Eagles would have the same effect on CSI, though they would have the same conference record as Eastern, the Eagles would own the tiebreaker over CSI. Thus, the top three spots in the tournament will be #1 SLCC, #2 USU Eastern and #3 CSI. The game played Thursday the 20th also lines up these two teams to meet again in the first game for each of them in the conference tournament, which will be hosted by CSI.
Margarett Otuafi had a double-double against CSI with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Emmery Wagstaff chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds, while Kacelyn Toomer added 10 points of her own in the loss.
Head coach Chelsey Warburton has her team’s vision set towards the future. “Turnovers were a key factor in our loss tonight,” she said. “We have to do a better job of getting open as a team and making each possession count. Saturday is a new game and we need to start strong.
The final regular season conference game for the Eagles will be Saturday, Feb. 22. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. from the BDAC. USU Eastern will host SLCC for sophomore night and then make preparations for the conference tournament.