LA GRANDE, OR. — The Oregon Tech Lady Owls (14-5, 7-5) battled hard but came up just short in a 75-79 overtime defeat to Eastern Oregon (13-7, 10-2) on Friday evening. Tech was spurred by a career performance from freshman Olivia Sprague who scored a game-high 26 points in just her 3rd career start.

Following the defeat, HC Scott Meredith said: "It was a great collegiate basketball game tonight. Very proud of how our our squad competed and came back in the 4th quarter to push the game into overtime. Got some great performances from our freshman and we look forward to playing C of I tomorrow."

Eastern Oregon 79 Oregon Tech 75 (OT)

Riding a seven game win streak, Tech faced off against a strong Eastern Oregon side, looking to extend their streak to eight straight.

However, unfortunately for Tech, their task became more difficult when Melissa Lee was ruled out of the weekend slate due to injury.

Missing Lee, Tech wasn't phased in the opening period, storming out to their patented strong first quarter start. 

The Lady Owls grabbed a 21-18 through the first eight minutes, shooting 50% from the field.

In the second period, Tech continued to hold off the Mountaineers to head into the break with a 34-33 lead.

At the half, Tech was led by Shelby Blodgett who had 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting. 

In the third quarter, the Mountaineers would surge in front, but the Lady Owls remained in striking distance thanks to some clutch buckets from Sprague and fellow freshman Kennedy Tull.

In the fourth quarter, Sprague and Blodgett put the team on their back. The freshman tandem combined for 15 points, highlighted by two free throws with 0.3 left from Sprague to force the game into overtime. 

In the overtime period, Tech jumped out to a 75-70 lead, but went cold as EOU dominated the Lady Owls on the boards to close the game on a 9-0 run. EOU finished the contest with a 53-37 advantage on the glass, a statistic that exposed the fact Tech was without one of their leading rebounders.

Tech finished with four players in double figures, highlighted by freshman trio, Olivia Sprague, Shelby Blodgett, and Kennedy Tull who combined for 55 of the teams 75 points. 

Olivia Sprague: 26 points  on 8-of-21 shooting with seven steal, four assists and four rebounds

Shelby Blodgett: 19 points on 9-of-22 shooting with ten rebounds (double-double)

Abby Kreiser: 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting with six steals

Kennedy Tull: 10 points on 3-of 4 shooting

It was a career night for Sprague and her freshman teammates, but their valiant effort came up just short.

Eastern Oregon was led by Taylor Stricklin, who scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

Tech will have a chance to earn a split on this road trip when they head to Caldwell to face off against College of Idaho tomorrow at 2pm.