And the season begins
This archived article was written by: Jordan Weihing
The USU Eastern women’s basketball team traveled from Utah to Arizona the past two weekends bringing home two victories and three losses.
On Nov. 1-2, they traveled to Arizona to play against Chandler- Gilbert and Eastern Arizona and this past weekend in Taylorsville
they went up against South Mountain College, PIMA and Northwest College. All games were a good test for Head Coach Dave Paur’s new game plan for the season.
The Eagles made a great start to their season defeating Chandler-Gilbert 86-77, a considerably high scoring game compared to the Eagles last season. Coach Paur said this season his team would be shooting a lot and that most definitely holds true in this game.
The Lady Eagles attempted 93-field goals compared to Chandler- Gilbert’s 69. The interesting fact is that Chandler-Gilbert actually ended the game with a better shooting percentage, but because the Eagles were shooting so much, they ended the game with more points. Isabela Costa, Larissa Quintana, and Caroline Fisher lead the charge in points for the Eagles, scoring 12 points each. Costa dominated boards as well, grabbing 11 steals, giving her a double-double. Fisher achieved a double-double
as well, snatching 10 steals.
The Eagles press worked effectively causing Chandler -Gilbert to turn the ball over 48 times. This allowed for a lot more possession and therefore more attempts to score. The only downside to their defensive game is that Kia Sandoval, for Chandler-Gilbert, scored 25 points. They just had a hard time shutting her down, but luckily one player’s efforts weren’t enough to come away with the victory.
Coach Paur’s new style worked wonders against Chandler-Gilbert, but it didn’t quite fit the bill for their next matchup against Eastern Arizona who outscored the Eagles 89-75. Although the quick shots worked great against Chandler-Gilbert, it didn’t make the cut against Eastern Arizona. The Eagles attempted 82-field goals while Eastern Arizona only attempted 59, but Eastern Arizona made all their field goals count. Eastern Arizona ended the game with a 54 percent field goal percentage compared to the Eagles 28 percent.
Maddy Murphy led the Eagles in scoring, knocking down 13 points. Quintana did her best to help out as well, scoring 12. Again the Eagles allowed individual players to go on scoring rampages. Natalia Hausmann and Pearl Paulo both scored over 20 points for Eastern Arizona; almost half their team’s total points for the game.
After their weekend in Arizona, the lady Eagles traveled to Taylorsville for a tough weekend. They first played Northwest College
on Nov. 7 where they were defeated 97-85. Bryanna Adams had a stellar game scoring 22 points, Lejla Hadzialijagie helped out reaching for 10 rebounds.
The next day the Eagles went up against PIMA where they were defeated 105-82. Adams led the team in scoring again, with 17,
followed closely by Jamie Smith and Quintana who each had 12. Again their efforts were shut down when
PIMA’s Melody McLaughlin scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. After their three-game losing streak, Eastern showed up on Nov. 9 ready to take home the victory. They played some excellent team ball with Fisher, Murphy, Adams, and Hadzialijagie all scoring in the double digits. Smith and Krista Hamilton each grabbed 10 rebounds as well. Although Megan Mullings for South Mountain College scored 38 points and grabbed 17 rebounds it wasn’t enough to stop the united Eagle effort. Eastern came home victorious beating South Mountain College 104-94.
All the Eastern games so far have been played fairly consistently, but ended completely different. The Eagles took a lot of shots, played a high tempo game and caused a lot of turnovers. Fans are going to have to continue to wait to see if Coach Paur’s unique game plan will create a victorious season.