Eagles Come up Short against Snow

Utah State Eastern women’s basketball lost to Snow College 65-61 on Thursday night at home.
In front of a large crowd for Fan Appreciation Night, the Eagles struggled in the beginning of the game on offense and fell behind 22-9 after the first quarter.
“We had great looks at the basket but unfortunately they didn’t fall for us,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Chelsey Warburton.
The Eagles would improve in the second quarter led by sophomore forward Kaitlin Toluono’s eight points and three rebounds.
During the second quarter sophomore Madison Loftus broke the school record for the second straight year for three pointers made in a season. With the three she made with 1:50 left in the half, she now has 86 threes made on the season.
“Madi is a great shooter, its good to have a good shooter because its pulls out their defense and opens up the inside. She is good off the dribble too so I think she is overall a good player,” said Toluono.
Snow would continue to hold on to their double-digit lead throughout most of the second while the Eagles’ shooting struggles remained.
“Snow has been playing well and is a good team. I feel like we beat ourselves a lot of the time with errors and when we force the offense,” said Warburton.
In the fourth quarter the Eagles would create a comeback attempt while the offense finally got going with shooting 63.6% from the field and 60% from three-point range.
Freshman guard Brooklynn Barrus hit two crucial three-pointers in the final five minutes of the game to help cut the Snow lead to single digits.
With 1:24 to play, sophomore guard Rashel Blazzard scored to cut the Snow lead to only a basket.
However, time ran out on the Eagles and they lost the game with Snow making four free throws in the final 20 seconds.
After the game Toluono said that the loss to Snow was a learning experience for her and the rest of her teammates.
“Definitely not the outcome we wanted but I think that it was good learning experience for us to get ready for the next game,” said Toluono.
Toluono finished the night with a team-high 20 points against Snow while also grabbing seven rebounds and two steals.
The next game for the Eagles will be this upcoming Saturday against the College of Southern Idaho at 3 p.m. They defeated CSI last Saturday in overtime 91-89 at home.
Warburton said that her team will need to be more unified on the court if they will want to get back on the winning track on Saturday in Twin Falls.
“We will need to play a solid game and play together,” said Warburton.