USU Eastern hosted Fan Appreciation Night on Wednesday as they welcomed the College of Southern Idaho to campus. Coming in with at 22-1 record CSI was ranked No. 5 nationally, and when they left the USU Eastern Lady Eagles handed them their second loss of the season, with a 63-58 victory.

The Bunnell-Dmitrich Athletic Center was packed as Fan Appreciation offered free admission, free food and great basketball that went down to the wire.

In the first quarter it seemed that no one wanted to score until Kinlee Toomer scored the first two of her 15 points at the 6:41 mark. The quarter remained pretty quiet ending with USU Eastern holding a slim two point lead 10-8 after one.

The two teams battled back and forth in the second quarter, trading bucket after bucket until the three minute mark when CSI’s Sadie Gronning who scored 11 in the game, put her team on top for the only time in the contest at 20-18.

In the third, USU Eastern would go up by as much as 13, but every time they tried to distance themselves, CSI would come charging back cutting USU Eastern’s lead to as little as two points with just 0:37 left in the game. Then began the parade to the foul line as CSI was forced to send USU Eastern to the line. Free throws from Ella Bradley and Brooklyn Palmer would seal the deal pushing the lead to five. A missed jumper by Gronning was all that was left as the Lady Eagles took the win.

Ella Bradley came up huge for USU Eastern with a game and season high 26 points, double her season average, on 10-of-16 shooting.  Toomer also added six rebounds and five assists to go with her 15. Brooklyn Palmer scored seven and pulled down nine boards.

USU Eastern now sits at 11-11 overall and holds a 7-5 record in conference play.  With the season winding down they will be playing six games in 12 days, starting with two at home against Salt Lake Community College, then a trip to Twin Falls to face CSI once more, back home for a match against the College of Southern Nevada and finally they end the regular season with two games at Colorado Northwestern, to say they will be busy is an understatement.

First up is a home contest with the Salt Lake Community College Bruins on Saturday in the BDAC.

The Lady Eagles are currently on a three game losing streak to the Bruins. The last victory came in February of 2021, a 63-60 win on the road.

The start time is set Saturday for 1:00. You can catch the action on KOAL 107.3 FM or 750 AM starting with the Landon’s Diesel Service Pre-game show starting at 12:45.The game is also available to stream live at castlecountryradio.com