USU Eastern Women’s Basketball Wins on Sophomore Night

The Utah State Eastern women’s basketball team defeated the Colorado Northwest Spartans 82-55 on Thursday.
Before the game the team honored the seven sophomores that played their final home game on Thursday.
“I am very proud of them for what they have accomplished in the past two years and excited to see what is in store for them,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Chelsey Warburton.
After a competitive first quarter with the Spartans, the Eagles offense would go on to outscore their opponent 60-39 in the last three quarters.
In the third quarter the Eagles scored 27 points to help separate themselves from the Spartans.
11 of the 13 players dressed for the game on Thursday scored for the Eagles and as a team they shot 51.7% from the field.
“Starters and non-starters all have a job to do and it is important that they work together to get the job done,” said Warburton.
After the game sophomore forward Kaitlin Toluono said that she was proud of the way all of her teammates including players off the bench, used their minutes in the game to help the team.
“Those are the people that are in practice that are making us better so I am glad that they are getting reward for the time they are putting in to make everyone else better,” said Toluono.
Leading the Eagles with a team-high 14 points was sophomore Madison Loftus. Toluono led the Eagles on the boards with 10 rebounds in 17 minutes of play.
Off the bench freshmen Brooklynn Barrus, Alyssa Crumley and Lindsey Blanc combined to score 32 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
The win on Thursday ends a three-game losing streak and also gives the Eagles their 17th win of the season which eclipses last season’s win total.
The final game of the regular season is Saturday on the road against Snow College. Last time the Eagles went to Ephraim they lost by one point.
That loss on January 18 was fueled by a slow first quarter where Snow outscored the Eagles 20-7 in the first quarter.
“We got to eliminate our slow starts, if we can eliminate those slow starts we will be beating people by 10 to 15 points and not have to climb out of huge deficits,” said Toluono.
Snow currently sits in second place in the Region XVIII standings while the Eagles are in fourth place.
The Eagles have lost five of their conference games by six points or fewer this season in a league that is very competitive and that could be up for grabs in next weekend’s tournament.
“We played well and lost by minimal points a handful of times. It is a solid league and it is anybody’s league to win in the upcoming tournament,” said Warburton.
The Region XVIII Tournament will be held at Snow College next Thursday through Saturday inside the Horne Activity Center.