CHENEY, Wash. – Julie Piper went for 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Eastern Washington past visiting Portland State, 78-68, on Saturday in the Big Sky Conference regular season finale for both schools.

Piper's double-double led the way for the Eagles, who had already secured their first ever conference title heading into the game. Chene Cooper chipped in 19 points and Kyla Evans added 11 more.

The Eagles (19-10, 12-4 Big Sky) will host the three-day conference tournament next week, March 11-13.

The loss cost Portland State (15-14, 9-7 Big Sky) a chance at earning the No. 2 seed in the tourney. They could still possibly garner the third seed, but could also fall down to as low as the fifth seed.

Both Sac State and Montana play later tonight and are sitting on 9-6 conference records at the moment. Should both teams win, that would bump PSU to the fifth seed. Regardless of the outcomes of tonight's games, the Vikings will play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 11.

Portland State led only once against Eastern Washington, going up 11-8 just over six minutes into the game. A 9-0 run gave the Eagles the lead back and they never trailed again.

After falling behind 38-26 at the break, the Vikings finally showed some promise to start the second half. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Claire Faucher and Lexi Bishop capped a 16-4 run that tied the game up at 42-42 with 15:09 left. The momentum was short lived however, as Cooper hit a three-pointer that started a streak of nine straight points by the Eagles.

Eastern Washington pushed its lead back up to 11 at 58-47 on a layup by Breauna Russell, before the Vikings fought back to within 58-55. They wouldn't get any closer, though, as the Eagles took control and put the game out of reach, leading 67-57 with 2:49 remaining.

Kelli Valentine paced PSU with 16 points, while Claire Faucher had a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. Faucher also pulled down a team-high six boards and led all players with four steals.

Kate DePaepe and Eryn Jones each scored 11 points for PSU, which shot just 37.7 percent (23 of 61) from the floor.

GAME NOTES: Katy Wade had two more blocked shots to push her school single-season record to 56 ... Faucher tallied her fifth double-double of the season, but it was her first since the opening day of Big Sky play on Jan. 2 ... EWU shot 48.3% for the game, including 53.6% over the first 20 minutes ... The Eagles outrebounded PSU, 41-29 ... EWU's win snapped a five-game winning streak by Portland State in the series ... The Vikings will leave for Cheney on Wednesday.