By Loren Miller, USU Eastern Sports Information:
PRICE – Utah State Eastern women’s basketball lost to the #15 Salt Lake Community College Bruins 72-52 on Thursday in Taylorsville.
The Eagles fell behind early in the game and were outscored 23-7 in the first quarter. Salt Lake shot 55 % from the field while the Eagles only made three baskets in the period.
“We had a very slow start and struggled to score,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Chelsey Warburton.”The girls continued to battle but did not shoot the ball well tonight.”
It was a different story in the second quarter for USU Eastern as they doubled their scoring and shooting percentage.
Freshman forward Morgan Toluono led the Eagles in the first half in scoring with eight points.
After being down at the half by 17, the Eagles slowed down the Bruins defensively. Salt Lake only scored seven points in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
On offense the Eagles outscored the Bruins 14-11 in the third period.
“At halftime we had a good talk and we all took that in and it helped us relax before the third quarter,” said Toluono.
Despite being down double-digits in the fourth quarter, the Eagles would be efficient scoring the ball and put a fight against the Bruins but time unfortunately ran out.
In the fourth quarter they shot 60% from three and 63.6% from the field.
“We fought the west we could just wasn’t the outcome we wanted,” said Toluono.
The loss gives the Eagles their first conference loss of the season and snaps a three-game winning streak.
Toluono finished the game as the Eagles’ leading scorer with 12 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds in the loss.
Sophomore forward Abby Butler was the team’s leading rebounder finishing with eight boards while also scoring 11 points.
The Eagles will look to bounce back from Thursday’s loss on Saturday at home against Snow.
“We will need to do a better job of executing our plays and following defensive scout for Saturday’s game,” said Warburton.
Tip off for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 3 p.m. inside the BDAC.
The game will be streamed live on the Scenic West Digital Network at scenicwestnetwork.com.