No. 10 Mountaineer Women Earn Weekly Honor
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University women’s basketball team, which won its fifth and sixth games out of the last seven contests during a weekend road sweep, has been named the “Verizon Team of the Week” in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, the conference office announced Sunday.
“It feels great to receive this honor,” EOU women’s basketball head coach Anji Weissenfluh said. “There is such a close battle in the conference right now that being picked as the team of the week is a great honor. It could really have gone to a number of teams.”
The No. 10 Mountaineers (17-4, 9-2 Cascade Conference) gained two more wins this weekend with road victories at Southern Oregon University and Oregon Tech. EOU is now three wins shy of its eighth 20-win season in the past 11 years. Saturday, Eastern grabbed a 62-46 win at Southern, followed by a 42-40 last second victory over OIT.
EOU swept its weekend games despite travel issues due to the severe weather that slammed the Pacific Northwest last week. Eastern was scheduled to leave Thursday for Klamath Falls at 9 a.m., but its bus was delayed in Pendleton, Ore., for 25 hours due to icy conditions on Interstate 84. As a result, the game against the Lady Owls was moved to Sunday. Then, the bus broke down in Ashland, following the game at Southern Oregon. Additional to the 25 hours in Pendleton, the Mountaineers spent 23 hours on the bus this weekend.
“Living in La Grande the weather is always an issue, but I would have to say that this will probably go down as one of the craziest trips we have ever taken,” Weissenfluh said. “I'm really proud of my team and how they overcame the adversity this weekend. Not only did they stay extremely positive but they were able to stay focused and pick up two big wins. SOU and OIT are hard places to play.”
Saturday, Eastern Oregon completed a regular season sweep over SOU with the win in Ashland. The Mountaineers were led by a 17-point performance from Brooke Randall. The junior was 3-of-11 from the field, but 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. Korrie Bourn added 14 points, making four of her five shots from the field. The Mountaineers were 31 percent from the field and 6-of-25 from behind the arc. Eastern finished 26-for-33 from the free-throw line, making 20 of its 22 attempts in the second half.
The Mountaineers won a defensive battle Sunday in Klamath Falls over Oregon Tech. Dominique Johnson hit a shot inside the paint with 0.7 seconds left in regulation to give EOU the win. Eastern picked up the victory, despite shooting 32 percent from the field, and scoring its lowest total since a 78-35 loss in 2001. It is also the lowest point total for EOU in a win since 1980. Bourn led Eastern Oregon with 13 points. The junior was 6-of-14 from the field. She grabbed six rebounds and threw a game-high four assists
“Our team is getting along well and playing hard for each other,” Weissenfluh said. “This weekend, as a team, we had a little trouble finding our offense so it was exciting to see them really put focus and energy into playing tough defense. There were a number of people who did things well and stepped up and made the big play this weekend. Both nights were truly a team effort. Everyone stepped up and did what needed to be done in order to win. I couldn't be any prouder of my team right now.”
After the unique road trip, the Mountaineers return home to host Northwest University Friday and The Evergreen State College Saturday. Both games are scheduled to tipoff at 5:30 p.m. in Quinn Coliseum.
Previous Verizon Team of the Week awardees.