Forgetable road trip, better at home
The USU Eastern women’s basketball team hit a wall on the road, dropping two games by 18 points each, but redeemed themselves when they came home the following week and won by 38 and 16 points. The roadblock started against North Idaho College on Jan. 17.
Gabriela Borges had a phenomenal game hitting 100 percent of her field goals and scoring 16 points. Amy Arbon led the team in scoring with 20 points. The two scored 36 of the team’s 49 points.
This archived article was written by: Jordan Weihing
The USU Eastern women’s basketball team hit a wall on the road, dropping two games by 18 points each, but redeemed themselves when they came home the following week and won by 38 and 16 points. The roadblock started against North Idaho College on Jan. 17.
Gabriela Borges had a phenomenal game hitting 100 percent of her field goals and scoring 16 points. Amy Arbon led the team in scoring with 20 points. The two scored 36 of the team’s 49 points.
The total field goal percentage of the team, however, was 30 percent compared to NIC’s shooting percentage of 49 percent. NIC was also able to take control of the boards gathering 39 rebounds which allowed 20 second-chance points. While Eastern was able to drain shots behind the arch, NIC was controlling the paint, scoring 32 points compared to Eastern’s 6.
Despite the valiant efforts of Borges and Arbon, it wasn’t enough and the game was lost by 18 points.
Following that tough loss, the Eagles traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho, to match up against College of Southern Idaho on Jan. 19. In the previous meeting with CSI, Eastern was able to come back from a 13-point deficit for a chance to win, but wasn’t able to cut it in the close game and ended up losing 65-60 on their home court.
This time, however, Eastern was unable to make it back from the deficit in Idaho and lost 97-69.
Abby Call led the team in points with 16 and Arbon grabbed 8 rebounds
Eastern had a hard time sinking baskets. They shot 2/13 from behind the 3-point line in the first half. Their tough defense caused CSI to turn the ball over 27 times, but it wasn’t enough to stop CSI from shooting 55 percent from the field and taking the win. The team “simply ran out of gas”, said Head Coach Dave Paur.
Paur said that the road trip was tough on the team. “Most teams fly, but we take a 17-hour bus ride”.
After the rough games on the road, the team was glad to be back in Price for the next week. They played a game against the Alumni All-Stars on Jan. 24. Eastern controlled the game grabbing 61 rebounds, seven blocks and 13 steals. Hailee Parry had a fantastic game scoring 20 points and dishing four assists. Eastern dominated the game; winning 80-42.
“It gave us a boost of confidence going into the game against Colorado,” Paur said.
Paur was definitely right. The Saturday following the game against the Alumni All-Stars, Eastern played one of their best games of the year against Colorado Northwestern.
Parry had an amazing game hitting 4/5 three-pointers, scoring 22 points, and grabbing four rebounds. Rachel Scoggins had a phenomenal shooting streak hitting three 3-pointers in a row, which increased Eastern’s lead by 11 with three minutes left in the half.
After the game Paur said, “We played the best defense we have played all year.” Anyone who went to the game would agree. Eastern’s defense caused 22 turnovers. Borges led the team in steals with four. Eastern won the game 68-52.
USU Eastern has a four-game road trip ahead of them and Paur says, “We’re excited, we’re ready to play.” They go up against Snow College on Jan. 31, who they beat in their last appearance and SLCC on Feb. 2. After those games they will be travelling to Idaho again for a chance to redeem themselves against NIC on Feb. 7 and CSI on Feb. 9. Hopefully the momentum they have gained from their two-game winning streak can carry over to the road trip ahead.
