Sports

Bobcat Women clip Eagles from Big Sky top spot

Posted: Jan 5, 2013 9:38 PM by MTN Sports

CHENEY, WA - The Montana State women's basketball put a quick halt to Eastern Washington's five-game win streak and 3-0 Big Sky Conference start, holding the Eagles to just one field-goal in the final eleven-minutes of the game, en route to a 73-60 win, Saturday afternoon at Reese Court.

The game featured 12 ties and 15 lead changes, before Montana State (9-4, 3-1) recorded five straight points at the 8-minute mark of the second stanza, sparked by back-to-back layups from Rachel Semansky, to give the Bobcats a 60-54 advantage with 5:33 remaining.

Eastern Washington (7-6, 3-1) closed to within two points following a pair of free throw tosses by Laura Hughes at the 5:01 mark, but once again Montana State answered closing out the game on a 13-2 run.

"I'm proud of how we played in the second half and closed out the game," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. "I challenged the team during a timeout that it wasn't time to pack the bags. They responded very well, and like the Portland State win, was a complete team effort."

For the second straight game, Semansky led all scorers with 20 points, connecting on eight-of-ten from the field. The Highwood native also paced the Bobcats under the boards with a team-high eight rebounds.

Also in double-figures for MSU were Ashley Brumwell 17 and Kalli Durham 13. Brumwell finished 7-of-13 from the floor and hauled down seven rebounds, while Durham connected on 4 3-pointers.

"We were much more patient running our offense in the second half," Durham said. "We were able to get the ball into Rachel and she got the job done. Ashley also had a strong game, and sometimes she gets overlooked.

"I thought we were aggressive on the defensive end and got a nice boost from Rechel (Carter) and Tish (Adams)," Binford said.

Adams finished the contest with a game-high six assists, while Carter posted a game-high five steals.

MSU finished shooting 48 percent from the field, including 61 percent in the second period. After hitting at a 48 percent clip in the opening stanza, the Bobcat defense held Eastern Washington to just 26 percent from the floor in the final twenty minutes.

Eastern Washington was led by Carrie Ojeda with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Montana State will host Northern Colorado on Thursday night in Worthington Arena.