Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Jordan Buscarini
The USU Eastern Lady Eagles suffered a season-ending loss on Thursday, falling to the Salt Lake Community College Bruins 61-45 in the first round of the Scenic West Athletic Conference Tournament in Twin Falls, ID.
Playing to advance to the conference championship game on Friday, the Lady Eagles fell behind early. A second half surge put USU Eastern back within striking distance, but Salt Lake finished the game on a 21-13 run to earn the victory.
Sophomore Kacelyn Toomer finished with nine points on 3-6 shooting to help push the USU Eastern offense. Hadley Humpherys also finished with nine points, scoring five at the free throw line to go along with seven rebounds.
Brooklyn Palmer wrapped up her USU Eastern career by scoring seven points and grabbing eight rebounds in 32 minutes. Brinlee McRae scored six points off the bench, which produced 16 for the game.
The Lady Eagles struggled to find consistency offensively as the team shot just 32.7% from the field. USU Eastern struggled to gain second chance opportunities as they were limited to just seven offensive boards in the contest.
Salt Lake managed to keep USU Eastern out of rhythm by forcing 18 steals and 26 turnovers. The Bruins turned the takeaways into 21 points.
Aminata Diakite poured in a game-high 19 points to lead Salt Lake in the win. Mia Tarver scored 13, while Ashton Adamson and Finau Tonga both ended with seven.
Thursday’s loss brings USU Eastern’s final record to 22-9 overall on the season. The Lady Eagles finished conference play with a 14-4 mark, earning the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.