LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Bushnell women's basketball team put together another impressive defensive showing, but couldn't find the offense to match as they fell to No. 17-ranked Eastern Oregon University on Saturday afternoon, 56-45.
 
The Beacons (5-13, 3-7 CCC) out-rebounded the Mounties 46-34 and had 14 offensive boards, and earned a 26-20 scoring margin in the paint, but an overall shooting percentage of 29%, including a 3-for-13 effort from distance proved insurmountable against the Cascade Conference leaders.
 
Bushnell also held their own early with four different players scoring in the first 2:25 to give the visitors a 10-0 lead. EOU, however, closed the half on a 33-13 run to take a 33-23 advantage into the intermission. The Beacons closed to within five in the third quarter, but couldn't get any closer.
 
"We actually played a lot better tonight than we did on Friday," said head coach Chad Meadors, "but that's a really good team we played. We jumped on them early, and did some good things offensively, and it turned into a defensive slugfest later on. We just have to find some more offense. We moved the ball a lot better, and created opportunities. We took some steps forward tonight and we have more steps we need to take, to be able to compete with these teams at the top of the conference."
 
The Beacons were led by Ayden Krupke, scoring 15 points, and Kenzie Pedersen with 12. Ciena Tumoine led all players with 13 rebounds while Maddie Gerhart scored eight points and ten boards.
 
EOU (17-1, 0-1 CCC) had just one player in double figures as Kelsie Siegner scored 20, along with seven rebounds and a game-high three blocks.
 
UP NEXT: The road doesn't get any easier for Bushnell as they take on No. 20 Corban University on Tuesday at 5:30 pm.