‘Overlooked’ Aaliyah Alexander leading Eastern Washington in scoring and putting Big Sky on notice

With preseason attention fixed on her teammates, it’s possible that Aaliyah Alexander’s performance so far this year has gone under the radar.

But it is clear to teammates – and undoubtedly now to opponents – the redshirt sophomore guard has been an instrumental part of the success of Eastern Washington’s women’s basketball team.

After scoring a team-high 18 points in Eastern’s win Saturday at North Dakota – the ninth time she’s led the Eagles in scoring this season – Alexander ranks second in the Big Sky in scoring at 15.7 points per game and has been a constant offensive weapon for an Eagles team that is 12-3 overall, the best record in the league.

“I think Aaliyah’s one that in the conference has been overlooked a little bit,” EWU head coach Joddie Gleason said last week. “She hasn’t been the one that’s gotten the all-conference selections or nods, and I think it probably fuels her a little bit.”

Alexander received no all-league accolades after last season, when she averaged 12.7 points and made 46 of 123 3s (37.4%). Teammates Jamie Loera (defensive player of the year, third-team selection), Jaydia Martin (third-team selection) and Jacinta Buckley (honorable mention) were all recognized by the Big Sky.

And while no one in the Eagles program is taking anything away from those players, they recognize the significance of Alexander’s play.

“Aaliyah’s huge to this team,” starting post Milly Knowles said last week. “She’s a great leader. She leads on and off the court. You see it in the way she plays. She shows up every night.”

It speaks to the depth of a team that won’t be satisfied by anything less than a conference championship. The Eagles are 2-0 in Big Sky play with the rival Idaho Vandals up next Saturday in Moscow.

Eastern’s team scoring margin (16.1 points) is almost five points better than the Big Sky’s next best (Idaho, at 11.3), and only Montana (at 44.7%) is shooting better from the field than Eastern (43.3%).

The Eagles’ turnover margin (plus-6.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5) are easily the best in the league, and five players average more than 8 points per game.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Alexander said. “We have so many threats. So many scorers.”

Alexander was recruited to Eastern by the previous head coaching staff and started 21 games as a freshman in 2020-21. But at the tail end of the season she tore her ACL. Following surgery, she missed all of the next season.

During her rehab process, Joddie Gleason was hired as head coach, which was serendipitous: The Gleasons – Joddie and her husband Skip, an EWU assistant – had recruited Alexander while they coached at Seattle University.

“When they got the job,” Alexander said, “I was like, ‘hey, I know you.’ ”

That familiarity made it easy for her to stick around, and once healthy in 2022-23, Alexander ranked second on the team in scoring behind Martin, who averaged 16.1 points per game and missed 10 games with an injury.

This year, though, Alexander has upped her game. She’s added 3 points to her scoring average and leads the Eagles in 3-point shots made (25 of 57, 43.9%). She has also improved her free-throw shooting, from 75% to 83.3%, and after having twice as many turnovers as assists last year she has 25 of each so far this season.

“I think it’s everything,” Alexander said of what led to her improvement. “I think it’s repetition. I think it’s feeling the love from my teammates and from coaches, and just having that confidence. That all plays a role.”

The team’s depth might mean that Eastern’s players don’t get as much individual attention when awards are handed out, but that’s an easy sacrifice as they look to secure the program’s first Big Sky championship since 2010.

“It’s so much fun,” Alexander said. “We feed off each other’s energy, and once we get that energy going, there’s no stopping it.”