Casper, Wyoming — Eastern Arizona entered the NJCAA as the 20th seed out of 24 teams in the NJCAA National Tournament. They upset #13 Pear River 56-45 in round 1 where Elva Chavez and Gracie Sorenson led the way with 16 points each, then defeated #4 Collin County 61-60 behind a 21-point double-double from Vitoria Santana and thirdly, #5 Gulf Coast State 67-53 in the quarterfinal round as Sorenson collected a 20-point double-double.
Those three wins set up a semifinal match up with #1 and undefeated Hutchinson Community College. The Monsters were tied at 24 and halftime but the fatigue from 4 games in 5 days set in and Hutch avoided the upset with a 61-46 win. Hutch would go on to win the National Championship two nights later.
With their 2nd round win, this year’s squad put themselves in the EAC record books as the first ever women’s basketball team to win two games at the National Tournament.
EAC finishes the season with a 30-6 record.
Head coach Angelica de Paulo received the Alberta Lee Cox Sportsmanship award and sophomore guard Laini Dahlin was named to the National All-Tournament team.
