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MISSOULA- The smallest player on the court Thursday night played the game's biggest role in Eastern Washington's 67-57 victory over Montana at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula. The Eagles' five-foot senior point guard Chene Cooper had 18 points and nine assists as EWU jumped out to an 18-point first-half lead and never trailed in the second half.

Montana (11-9, 4-3 BSC) had 10 turnovers in the game's opening 15 minutes, and Eastern Washington (12-9, 6-2 BSC) made the Lady Griz pay. The Eagles went 5 for 7 from 3-point range and shot 46.2 percent in the first half and led 32-20 at the break.

Fueled by some deep 3-pointers late, Montana trimmed the lead to four points, 58-54, with just over a minute remaining, but the Eagles went 9 for 10 from the free throw line the final 66 seconds to win at Dahlberg Arena for the second straight season and stay in a second-place tie in the Big Sky Conference.

"We get an A for effort down the stretch," UM coach Robin Selvig said, "but we just had that stretch in the first half where we were terrible. We turned it over I don't know how many times in a row. And when we did get shots, we didn't make any."

Thursday's game was billed as a rematch of the teams' meeting earlier this month in Cheney, Wash., when Montana held down the high-scoring Eagles in a 53-46 win.

The big question entering the game was if Eastern Washington could score against Montana's defense. Looking back, it probably should have been, Could the Lady Griz score against the Eagles' trapping, confounding defense.

Montana grabbed a 12-10 lead just over six minutes into the game on a 3-pointer by sophomore Torry Hill. That would be the final positive development for the Lady Griz until their surge late in the second half.

Over a stretch of nearly six minutes, a non-Montana-looking Montana turned the ball over six times and missed all four of its shots. That allowed Eastern Washington to take control, and when Aubrey Ashenfelter hit a three with two minutes left in the half the Eagles went up 32-14.

The Lady Griz scored the half's final six points to cut the halftime deficit to 32-20. Montana shot 30.8% in the first half and had 11 turnovers.

"They did a nice job defensively," Selvig said. "They were trapping all over and keeping us out of sync. We never got organized in the first half, and that did not allow us to attack them very well."

Cooper hit a three with the shot clock winding down, and a Brianne Ryan jumper in the lane made it 39-22 three minutes into the second half to put Montana in another hole.

Each second-half push the Lady Griz made to cut deep into the lead was thwarted. Junior Alyssa Smith's second three in a span of 45 seconds cut the lead to 52-46 with still over four minutes left to play.

Cooper drove baseline on the other end on EWU's next possession, dribbled underneath the basket and found herself with an open 10 footer when she reappeared on the other side of the lane. She knocked it down, and a Montana turnover followed by a Ryan backdoor cut for a layup extended the lead back to 10, 56-46.

Smith and Hill would connect from 3-point range to cut the lead to 58-54 with 1:13 remaining. Cooper hit a pair of free throws at the 1:06 mark, and after a Montana miss Cooper hit another pair of free throws to extend the lead to 62-54 with 53 seconds left and end the threat.

"We had to hit some deep threes to do it, but we made a nice run," Selvig concluded. "In the end digging a hole like that was too much for us to get out of."

Montana had four double-digit scorers, but those four would score all but four of the team's points. Sophomore Jordan Sullivan and redshirt freshman Kellie Cole, who combine to average over 13 points per game, were both held scoreless.

Smith, who had just two points at the half, hit four threes in the final five minutes and finished with a career-high 16 points. She picked off four steals, one coming on a diving hustle play that generated a squeaking floor burn likely audible to East Missoula.

Hill added 14 points and four assists, junior Kenzie De Boer 12 points and junior Katie Baker 11.

Ryan, the Big Sky's leading scorer, totaled 15 points for the Eagles. Carrie Ojeda, the reigning Big Sky player of the week, finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

The win allowed Eastern Washington to keep pace with the Big Sky Conference leaders. With Idaho State's 64-50 win at Northern Colorado Thursday, the Bengals (15-5, 7-0 BSC) stayed atop the standings.

Eastern Washington and Montana State (14-6, 6-2 BSC) remain two games back in the loss column. The Bobcats handed Portland State (11-8, 3-4 BSC) its third straight loss Thursday night, 70-50.

Montana, which sits alone in fourth place, will host Portland State Saturday at 2 p.m.