KIRKLAND – Eighteenth-ranked Eastern Oregon held off a determined Northwest squad Saturday, 85-80, in Kristi Brodin Pavilion.
 
"That was a fun game to watch, fun game to play and a fun game to coach," said NU Head Coach Ken Crawford. "I was really excited about everybody coming back to school. It was a super basketball atmosphere and a great game that went down to the wire."
 
Northwest scored 53 points in the second half and had a brief lead with 1:29 to go but the Mountaineers answered with a Rachel Felder basket and followed that with steals by Kylie Smith and Megan Still to hold off the Eagles.
 
Jane Nelson led EOU with 18 points, while Whitney Meier added 15, Felder 14, Still 12 and Emma Logan 11.
 
Grace Meza led the Eagles with 19 points, followed by Ellesse FitzGerald with 13, Sam Van Loo with 12 and Athena Taylor with 11. Van Loo also had eight rebounds.
 
Northwest shot 55 percent from the field in the second half.
 
The Eagles dipped to 4-13 overall and 2-5 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. EOU improved to 11-7 and 5-3 in the league.
 
NU heads to Portland next weekend to take Warner Pacific on Friday and Multnomah Saturday in a pair of 5:30 p.m. contests.