Ladies make it look as easy as 1,2,3
Utah State University Eastern Lady Eagles enter this weekend’s match ups with a conference record of 3-0. Conference play began with Colorado Northwestern Community College, Snow College and Salt Lake Community College.
On Jan. 6, CNCC came to Price. “Colorado had the second-best preseason record of the conference. We had played a much tougher preseason playing fifth-, sixth- and seventh-ranked teams,” said head coach Dave Paur.
This archived article was written by: Katie Bigelow
Utah State University Eastern Lady Eagles enter this weekend’s match ups with a conference record of 3-0. Conference play began with Colorado Northwestern Community College, Snow College and Salt Lake Community College.
On Jan. 6, CNCC came to Price. “Colorado had the second-best preseason record of the conference. We had played a much tougher preseason playing fifth-, sixth- and seventh-ranked teams,” said head coach Dave Paur.
The game began with Lady Eagles scoring quickly with two points in the first five seconds of the game. Coach Paur commented, “I wondered about Colorado playing one or two tough teams. They were feeling good about themselves until we held them to 18 points in the first half.” The Lady Eagles kept the scoring up and went into the half leading 35-18.
After halftime, the Lady Eagles took off and kept a 15-20- point cushion over the Spartans for the remainder of the game. “It says a lot about our defense. I don’t think they were ready for that high intensity of play,” said Paur. The final score was 77-54 in favor of USU Eastern. Priscila Santos had 37 points and Hailee Parry 17. The team racked up 20 steals.
Friday Jan. 13, the Lady Eagles hit the road to Ephraim to play Snow College. “Snow had beat College of Southern Idaho on their home floor already this season. That is a huge win for anyone to do. It’s hard to beat CSI at their floor,” Paur said. Snow was hosting their first-home-conference game against USU Eastern. “They were feeling good. They thought they could play Priscila one on one. Our team didn’t seem to mind. We did what we were supposed to do.”
The first half ended with an Eastern lead, 45-27. “We played hard and made shots when we’re open,” said Paur. Snow was able to out score the Eagles in the second half, 38-34.
“We got them down by 20 and had to coast into the win. We won by 14,” Paur said. The end score was 79-65. Santos had 43 points and Caitlin Nelson had 15. The team had 5 blocks and 12 steals. “It was great to beat Snow. They are a very good team with good offensive players. A sweet victory.”
On Jan. 14, the USU Eastern Lady Eagles played Salt Lake Community College. “They played Priscila like East Idaho All-Stars, but with the best defense on her.” The Lady Eagles took a 22-21 lead at halftime “Our defense was great against Snow, but it was better against Salt Lake. It was great team effort. When Priscilia was double teamed, our team did what we had to. We hit open shots,” Paur said. The game ended 58-44 in USU Eastern’s favor.
“This is the first time we’ve ever swept Snow and Salt Lake on the road. Salt Lake has only lost two or three games on their home court in the last few years. We’ve never won back-to-back games against these two teams,” said Coach Paur. Santos had 32 points and Parry added 14. The team had 10 steals. “We held SLCC to 44 points, a tremendous defensive effort.”
This weekend of Jan. 20 and 21, the Lady Eagles play North Idaho and College of Southern Idaho. “We now play North Idaho who beat CSI by one point. Two undefeated teams play Friday night,” Paur said.
