(Editor’s note: Montana State Athletics media release)
BOZEMAN — Behind a career-high 37 points by Violet Kapri Morrow the Eastern Washington women’s basketball team rallied from a 15-point fourth quarter deficit to record an 89-87 overtime victory over Montana State on Saturday afternoon in Worthington Arena.
Montana (9-8, 4-3) held a 58-43 advantage at the 9:38 mark of the final quarter following a three-pointer from Claire Lundberg. Eastern Washington (4-11, 3-3) went on a 12-4 run over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to seven with 6:47 left.
A layup by Oliana Squires gave MSU a 70-61 cushion with 3:40 remaining, but the Eagles used back-to-back three-pointers by Uriah Howard and Alissa Sealby to pull to within 72-71 at the 1:25 mark. Squires sank a pair of free throws with 20-seconds remaining to give the Cats a three-point but margin, but Morrow answered with a triple with 12-seconds remaining to put the game into overtime.
“Morrow and Sealby had great games and we didn’t do anything to stop them,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “We have to figure out how to defend. We got too comfortable with ourselves and Eastern Washington, who has played very well since the start of conference, took advantage of our deficiencies.”
The Eagles shot 72.2 percent from the field and connected on six-of-six three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Morrow opened the extra period with a three-pointer and Montana State trailed until Halle Wright converted an old-fashion three-point play with a free throw with 38-seconds remaining to give the Bobcats an 85-84 lead. Morrow and Wright traded layups and MSU held an 87-86 margin with 12-seconds remaining.
Again, Morrow responded going coast-to-coast for a layup while getting fouled. After converting the free throw, EWU held an 89-87 advantage with seven-seconds left. Lundberg’s attempt at the buzzer on an in-bounds play was no good and the Eagles completed its rally.
“It took us a while to get going,” Binford said. “But, I thought once we started moving the ball around we were able to execute pretty well on the offensive end. In the second half, Eastern was able to get some stops and then they got the hot hand. We stopped executing on defense and they started knocking down shots.”
Montana State had five players reach double-figures led by Lundberg with 19. She was followed by Martha Kuderer 15, Squires 13, Wright 13 and Tori Martell 12.
Wright, a freshman from Aumsville, Ore., scored nine points in the overtime period. She also added a team-high seven rebounds and eight assists.
Morrow finished the contest connecting on 14-of-23 from the floor and five-of-eight from long distance. Sealby ended with a career-high 18 points, while Leya DePriest notched a career-best 12 points.
Montana State will play at Weber State on Thursday night in Ogden, Utah.
