Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PRICE, Utah – The Utah State Eastern women's basketball team traveled to Casper, Wyoming over the weekend to participate in the GW Mechanical Tip-Off Classic.

The Eagles played their first game of the season on Friday against Casper where they lost 70-51. The story of the game was the poor shooting for the Eagles, they finished the first half shooting 11 percent from the field.

In the second half against Casper, the Eagles bounced back and shot 40 percent. They got with 10 points of the Casper but were unable to convert free throws, missing 10 in the final quarter.

Leading the Eagles in points and rebounds against Casper was freshman forward Baylee Leiter who scored nine points and had nine rebounds.

On Saturday the Eagles stayed in Casper and took on Central Wyoming where they picked up their first win of the season defeating the Rustlers 76-54.

During the first half the Eagles played a very close game against Central Wyoming until right before halftime when the Eagles went on a big 9-0 run to finish the half.

The third quarter was a back and forth battle between the two teams and the Eagles finished the third quarter with a seven point lead. A big contribution off the bench from sophomore Bryndie Ballam helped the Eagles maintain a good lead throughout the second half. Ballam finished the game with 12 points including two big three-point shots to help build momentum.

Head Coach Chelsey Warburton said that Ballam helped get her team going offensively after starting the game with poor shooting.

"We were struggling hitting shots against Centrals zone defense but Bryndie was able to come off the bench and give us an offensive spark that we greatly needed," said Warburton.

The Eagles outscored the Rustlers in the fourth quarter 28-13 to cap off the win. Warburton said that when her team works together and executes they can be successful like they did in the fourth quarter.

"Our team is very successful when we share the ball and look at all our options.  Against Central we did a great job of pushing the pace offensively and also working the ball inside," said Warburton.

Leading the Eagles in scoring on Saturday was freshman Lauren O'Connell who had 15 points and was 3 of 5 from the three-point line. Leiter had another great game on the boards, she finished the game with 13 rebounds.

Warburton and her staff hopes to use tournaments like the one in Casper to prepare her team for conference play both offensively and defensively.

"During our preseason tournaments we will look at different offensive and defensive sets, rotations, and also get the team more comfortable with scouts on our opponents," said Warburton.

Before their conference schedule begins January 5, the Eagles will play in five preseason tournaments, all of which will be on the road.

The Eagles will travel down to Ephraim this coming weekend to participate in the Badger Tournament hosted by Snow College. On Friday they take on Gillette College at 5:30 p.m. then the next day they will play Fort Carson at 1 p.m.

Fans can follow the Eagles all season long on Facebook at USU Eastern Athletics and on Twitter at twitter.com/usueathletics.