USU Eastern Women’s Basketball Falls Short Against SLCC

EPHRAIM – Utah State Eastern women’s basketball lost to the Salt Lake Community College Bruins 71-60 on Friday night in the Region XVIII Tournament semifinals in Ephraim.
Friday’s loss eliminates the Eagles from tournament and ends their 2017-2018 season.
The Eagles gave the top ranked Bruins all they could handle throughout the entire game, a performance that their coach Chelsey Warburton was proud of.
“I am extremely proud of our team all across the board. They played hard, played together and bought into what we are trying to do,” said Warburton.
In the first half, the Eagles shot 55.6% from behind the three-point line and forced seven Salt Lake turnovers.
Sophomore point guard Rashel Blazzard powered the Eagle offense in the first half with 8 points including two threes.
At halftime, he Eagles only trailed by four, the closest margin between the two teams in the past two meetings earlier this season.
“We kept with them, at the end of the first half they had a little bit of a spirt but a majority of the first half we did good,” said Eagles’ forward Kaitlin Toluono.
In the second half, the Eagles were led by Toluono, who put in 17 points and grabbed four rebounds with three steals.
“Today I was proud of her and the way she battled and kept battling. She hit some big shots and made big plays for us,” said Warburton.
The Eagles found themselves trailing by 11 with just under five minutes to play in the game until back to back threes made by Toluono plus a free throw quickly cut the Bruin lead to four.
Missed layups and turnovers in the final three minutes ended up costing the Eagles a chance to come back as Salt Lake would hold on to the win.
“There were too many empty possessions on the offensive end. I thought we had good defensive possessions but when you have good defensive possessions and you don’t score on the other side it doesn’t really help that much,” said Toluono.
Toluono finished her last game as an Eagle with 24 points and 7 rebounds.
Freshman Alyssa Crumley chipped in with 13 points and 7 rebounds.
It wasn’t the result she wanted but Coach Warburton said after the game that she was happy with the way her team performed all season and never gave up.
“I am proud of the girls, not one time did they quit whether it was a win or a loss, all game and every game,” said Warburton.
The Eagles end their season with an 18-13 overall record, a two-game improvement from last season.