Eagles’ comeback against Snow falls just short

Utah State Eastern women’s basketball lost to the Snow College Badgers 62-61 Thursday night in Ephraim.
Utah State Eastern Head Coach Chelsey Warburton and the Eagles fought their way back from a big first quarter deficit to come within a basket of winning their second conference game of the season.
Snow got off to 14-2 run to begin the game and closed out the first quarter leading 20-7.
Warburton says it was mistakes on both ends that allowed Snow to create a big lead.
“We had defensive scout breakdowns which gave Snow open looks that they scored.  We also forced shots on the offensive end,” she said.
The Eagles would come back strong in the second quarter led by sophomore guard Madison Loftus who had 9 points in the period including two made shots from three-point range.
As a team in the second quarter the Eagles were 4-6 from three and shot 53% from the field.
After being down seven points at halftime, the Eagles would allow Snow to continue to build their lead back up again in the third quarter.
USU Eastern trailed as much as 44-33 before creating defensive stops to slow down the Badgers toward the end of the third quarter.
“The second half we were able to regain our composure and execute our game plan. We played together as a team and more aggressively on defense,” said USU Eastern guard Rashel Blazzard.
The Eagles would bounce back in the fourth quarter and begin the period on a 10-4 run.
Freshman forward Alyssa Crumley made a free throw with 3:33 left in the game to tie the game at 55.
Snow would build a five -point lead with 1:16 to go after Harley Hansen made a three for the Badgers.
With 15 seconds left to play in the game, the Eagles would get one more opportunity to tie the game trailing 60-58.
Unfortunately, a miss by the Eagles would and a rebound by Snow would stop that opportunity.
Loftus would make a three point shot near half court at the buzzer to cut the Snow lead to one point but she wasn’t fouled and that eliminated the possibility for extra points with no time on the clock.
After the game, Warburton said her team will have to move forward and they can play with anyone but they just need to play a complete game.
“The team knows that we can battle with anyone, just need to play the full 40 minutes together and limit our turnovers,”
The Eagles finished the night with 16 turnovers but outrebounded the Badgers 35-25.
According to Blazzard, it’s all about controlling the game and keeping momentum on their side for the entirety of the game.
“We have to take control of the whole game. We can’t let up for a couple minutes, every single minute counts,” said Blazzard.
Loftus would be the Eagles’ leading scorer on Thursday night with 19 points, she also had five rebounds and three assists.
Crumley finished the night with 17 points along five rebounds against Snow.
Freshmen Morgan Hall and Sidney Springer each had six points off the bench.
The Eagles now have a record of 14-6 with a 1-2 record in Scenic West Athletic Conference play.
They will finish their weekend road trip with a battle against the College of Southern Idaho at 3 p.m. on Saturday.