Northern Arizona at Eastern Washington
CHENEY, Wash. (Interstat) — The Eastern Washington Eagles will look to complete a regular-season sweep and solidify their conference standing when they host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in a Big Sky women’s basketball matchup Saturday at Reese Court.
The Eagles (13-15, 8-7 Big Sky) enter with momentum from an 87-78 home victory over Portland State last Saturday. The Lumberjacks (10-18, 6-9) are looking to rebound from a lopsided 81-53 home loss to Northern Colorado on the same day.
Eastern Washington won the first meeting this season, 93-87, in Flagstaff on Jan. 29. In that game, the Eagles’ Kourtney Grossman posted a double-double with 24 points and 16 rebounds, while Northern Arizona’s Layla Davis scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Grossman, a dominant force in the post, is coming off another 24-point, 16-rebound performance against Portland State. Over her last five games, she is averaging 16.2 points and 10.6 rebounds.
Davis has been a bright spot for Northern Arizona, leading the team with 15 points and seven rebounds in the loss to Northern Colorado. Over her last four games where she saw significant minutes, she averaged 8.5 points and 3.3 rebounds.
The Eagles have shown potency at home, averaging 81.5 points in their last two games at Reese Court. Their offense runs through Grossman and guard Ella Gallatin, who dished out 10 assists in the last outing.
Northern Arizona’s path to an upset likely depends on containing Grossman and finding consistent scoring beyond Davis. The Lumberjacks have shown resilience on the road recently, securing overtime wins at Portland State and Sacramento State earlier this month.
With the Big Sky Conference tournament approaching, both teams are jockeying for seeding. A win would give Eastern Washington a valuable sweep and keep them in the upper tier of the standings, while Northern Arizona aims to split the series and improve its postseason positioning.
Tipoff is set for Saturday afternoon. Eastern Washington visits Idaho on Monday, while Northern Arizona travels to face Montana State.