Eagles Clip Cats in Semifinal Action

Tuesday, March 12

Boise, ID

12 p.m.

Montana State University

17-16,10-8Big Sky

Eastern Washington

28-5,16-2Big Sky

Montana St.

Eastern Wash.

Madison Hall played in her final game as a Bobcat on Tuesday afternoon. She played in a record 131 games over her five-year career in the Blue & Gold.

Photo by: Garrett Becker

3/12/2024 2:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Eastern (28-6) rode a stingy defense to its first league championship game appearance since 2019, holding the Bobcats to 26 percent shooting, 14 percent from beyond the arc

By: MSU Sports Information

- Big Sky Conference regular season champion Eastern Washington outscored Montana State 18-6 in the second quarter enroute to a 56-39 Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinal victory in Boise, Idaho.

Eastern (28-6) rode a stingy defense to its first league championship game appearance since 2019, holding the Bobcats to 26 percent shooting, 14 percent from beyond the arc. Unlike MSU's quarterfinal win on Monday, when the Cats also struggled shooting, Eastern forced 19 Bobcat turnovers.

"Our defense is what's been consistent for us all year," MSU head coach Tricia Binford said. "Our offense has been a little bit inconsistent and in and out. When you go into the Big Siy tournament it's a little bit more physical. I felt like we had some good looks, they just didn't drop, but Eastern Washington was really good defensively."

The game's defensive nature emerged early. The teams combined for 21 points and 9-26 shooting in the first quarter, which ended with MSU leading 11-10. Eastern caught fire in the second quarter, missing just one of its nine shots and sinking both three-pointers. Montana State limped to 2-14 shooting in that period, missing all five of its three-pointers and two of its four free throws. EWU led 28-17 at the intermission.

A layup by Katelyn Limardo and a putback by Taylor Janssen out of the locker room trimmed Eastern's lead to 28-21, and the Cats trailed 34-26 on Limardo's layup six minutes into the third quarter. Aaliyah Alexander's layup the next time down the floor pushed Eastern's advantage to 10 points, and MSU never trailed by less than double-digits the rest of the game. A 7-0 run to open the fourth quarter sealed the Eagles' win.

Eastern's second quarter surge proved the difference, as the Eagles shot 14-38 in the other three quarters. Jacinta Buckley led the Eagles with 16 points, while Jamie Loera tallied 12. EWU out-rebounded the Cats 37-32 and blocked seven shots.

Katelyn Limardo led MSU with nine points and Madison Hall scored eight in her Blue and Gold finale. The Bobcats forced EWU into 20 turnovers, while registering eleven steals- its 14^th double digit steal game of the season.

"I'm proud of this team for what they've been through this season, what they've endured, and how they continued to battle," Binford said.

Montana State finishes 2023-24 with a 17-16 record, its ninth straight winning mark and the 17^th in a row without a losing record under Binford's watch.