By Ryan Oppenheimer

EUGENE, Ore. — The Bushnell Beacons women’s basketball team fell behind by double digits near the end of the first quarter and never recovered, losing 87-75 to the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers Friday night.

The Beacons, already a small team, continue to be shorthanded. Seven players were active, and only four of them contributed in the scoring column. Libby Mathis put up her usual double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds while Aspen Slifka added 21 points, Aly Mirabile tallied 17, and Ayden Krupke tacked on 15.

The Mounties were tough to stop all night, with Brie Holecek scoring a team-high 23 points on 10/12 shooting. Both teams came out of the gates firing, but Eastern was especially unconscious, draining 22/32 from the field and 9/15 from deep in the first half and taking a 53-41 lead into halftime.

Eastern’s shooting percentages dropped gradually over the course of the game, but so did Bushnell’s. The Mounties’ lead consistently hovered at or around 12 for the remainder of the game and ultimately finished as such. The Beacons’ 17 forced turnovers kept them in it, but it never led to the scoring run they needed.

With the loss, head coach Chad Meadors and his Beacons drop to 8-6 on the season, while EOU improves to 9-4. Bushnell takes the court at the Morse Center again Saturday at 3 p.m., and they will host the 4-11 College of Idaho Yotes.