11/30/07: Back and Forth Battle Goes Eastern Oregon's Way

November 30, 2007

When a team makes only two baskets from the floor and misses two of their four free throws in overtime, the outcome is usually not good. But, for the Eastern Oregon University women Friday night, their defense sealed an 80-78 victory in the Cascade Conference opener.

A see-saw battle for much of the night, 15 lead changes and seven ties, EOU (4-0) prevailed behind 27 points from Breana Olson. The junior guard made four of her five three-pointers.

A fantastic finish featured Southern Oregon’s Chelsey Muri hitting a shot just inside the three-point line with five seconds left to put SOU ahead, 74-72. Eastern then got the ball across half-court and called timeout, and setup a well-designed play to end regulation; an inbound pass from Laura Olsen thrown underneath the basket to Tiffanie Ulmer for the game-tying points with 0.7 seconds remaining.

Sheena Henderson finished with a double-double for the Mountaineers with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Ulmer added 15 points with eight rebounds and Olsen had nine points and seven assists for EOU.

It was not a pretty game to watch, both teams combined for 51 turnovers, and shot a combined 42 percent from the field.

The Eastern women entered the game as the defending regular season champion of the CCC and in the receiving votes column in the current NAIA division one poll.

The Raiders were led by Murray with 17 points. Jackie Speer added 14 for SOU (3-2). Kellyn Cooper also had 12 points, while Whitney Scott and Ashley Baker both had ten points respectively.

Eastern Oregon will continue play Saturday night in La Grande against the Oregon Tech Hustlin’ Owls. OIT (4-1) fell at the College of Idaho Friday night, 74-66.