Lady Eagles’ “never quit” season ends in S. Idaho

This archived article was written by: Josh Luke

Josh Luke
staff writer
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CEU’s women’s basketball team ended their season this past weekend at the Scenic West Athletic Conference’s region tournament in Twin Falls, Idaho. The women lost to North Idaho College 78-63, ending their season the same way their record reflects.
Before heading to regionals, the team finished the league play in Salt Lake City by dropping two games to the SLCC Bruins on March 4-5, 79-57 and 74-69. Although the team was beaten by 22 points the first night, a few players added some impressive statistics. Veva Whitear led the Lady Eagles with 20 points, three steals and three assists. Along with Whitear, Whitney Fardig added nine points, Jana Glover eight points and Janeen Nelson seven points.
The next night the team had a much better game. They were within three at the break and the game stayed close until the end when Salt Lake, with only 14 seconds left on the game clock and one second left on the shot clock, hit a three-pointer. CEU could not catch up and ended up losing. Whitear again had an incredible game with 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals. Glover ended with 12 points, along with Nelson’s 15 points and Fardig’s seven rebounds and a block. Brittany Blaisdell ended up with nine points. During these two games the team shot 42 percent from the field and in the second game the team shot well from behind the arc with nine three-pointers.
The ladies traveled to Idaho to play in the Region-18 tournament taking their 4-13 record and a sixth seed. The faced North Idaho with a 11-6 record and third place tournament seeding. The Eagles had previously lost to NI by at least 30 points in each of their last three meetings.
CEU started the game with a 22-15 lead seven minutes to go in the first half. The team couldn’t hold onto the lead as North Idaho made a three pointer at the buzzer from 35 feet. CEU went into the second half down 32-22. The Lady Eagles couldn’t cut down Idaho’s lead and ended up loosing their last game of the season 78-63. Nelson led the team with 19 points and two steals, Whitear wasn’t far behind with 17 points three assists and four steals. Glover added 16 points and six rebounds, Fardig had nine rebounds and Hunsaker had six rebounds.
Coach Dave Paur said that he thought that the girls did a good job this year and they never quit. He said that this was evident by the way the girls played throughout the season. “The girls were losing by 20 and 30 points a game early in the year, but by the end of the year the girls were playing right with the same schools that had beaten them by 30 earlier in the year.” He added, “I will remember this team as the team that never quit and everyone else will remember this team as the team who didn’t win, and that’s just the way it is.”
On a brighter note Veva Whitear was named to the All Region second team. Paur said that he had a fun year and was looking forward to next year.