CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah women's basketball team earned their third Big Sky victory of the season Thursday night, 73-63 over the Eastern Washington Eagles. This is the first time that the Lady T-Birds have had more than two wins in conference play since the 2014-15 season when they finished 6-12.
"I think we played really well together. One of the things we talked about before the game was leaving it all out there and making each other better and executing and I thought we did that," head coach Tracy Sanders said. "We had some different people in there at times, Geassy came in and did a great job, Claudia did a great job of pushing the ball, but I think overall we just did a great job of making a teammate better."
After taking a two-point lead into halftime, the Thunderbirds used a big third quarter to begin to pull away from the Eagles. Harley Hansen was the spark for the T-Birds, going on a 9-0 run of her own to erase a two-point lead by the Eagles. During that time SUU held EWU scoreless for five minutes of play. She ended up scoring 11 points in the quarter, helping the team build a nine-point lead.
Southern Utah continued to pull away in the fourth quarter, leading by as much as 14 at one point. Claudia Armato knocked down two threes in the quarter to help the Thunderbirds keep the Eagles at bay. The T-Birds finished the second half shooting 50 percent from the field while holding Eastern Washington to 39.4 percent.
"We always talk about that third quarter lull we have and that was a big focus for us coming out of halftime. I thought they did a great job of pushing the tempo and finding that person out ahead and scoring layups," Sanders said.
The SUU defense stepped up and shut down some of the Eagles' impact players in the second half as well. Violet Kapri Morrow came into the game averaging 19 points per game and fouled out in the fourth with just 12 points. Grace Kirscher was lights out from the three-point line in the first half, but was held to just two baskets from deep in the second half.
The Thunderbirds outscored the Eagles in the paint 40-18 and had 19 points off of 14 turnovers. They also outshot the Eagles from the field, 43.3 percent to 39.7 percent.
Rebecca Cardenas and Ashley Larsen were the leading scorers for the T-Birds, both finishing with 17 points. Cardenas also had nine rebounds, five assists, and was 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Larsen added seven rebounds and made seven free throws. Hansen finished with 13 points and three steals.
The Thunderbirds will return to the court on Saturday February 2 to host the Idaho Vandals. Tip off is set for 2:00 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets for the Lady T-Birds' next home game on February 2 against Idaho are available at tbirdtickets.com or the America First Event Center Ticket Office. Fans can also purchase a Women's Sports Pass for access to all 2018-19 home games.
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Stay up to date during the 2018-19 Lady T-Bird Basketball season by following @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Women's Basketball page on Facebook.
