It hasn't been at all pretty for the 2005-06 AU women's basketball team and Saturday was just that, but the Eagles posted a much-needed 75-74 victory over the Lafayette Leopards at Bender Arena.
Freshman Sahar Nusseibeh led the Eagles with a career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, including seven offensive. She dominated the inside in the second half when she collected five of her offensive boards.
"Sahar attacked well today on the offensive end," AU coach Melissa McFerrin said. "That's what we've been asking her to do all year is attack the basket."
The Eagles found themselves down five points heading into the final two minutes, but they finished on a 6-0 run to knock off the Leopards and draw their Patiot League record to 2-5.
Nusseibeh put back a Tala Hadavi missed jumper to pull the Eagles within three. After a huge Tish Curry rebound, fellow freshman Pam Stanfield was fouled under the basket, and she knocked down two free throws to make the score 74-73 in favor of Lafayette.
The Eagles forced a turnover and gained possession with 24 seconds left. Stanfield brought the ball up before dishing off to Hadavi, who took a screen to the baseline and missed an 18-foot jumper. Nusseibeh grabbed the rebound and put it back as she was apparently fouled, but no call was made.
Stanfield, the smallest player on the floor, caught the loose ball and put it back up for her sixth point.
"On that play, I was just in the right place at the right time and it worked out for us," Stanfield said. "We really needed this win."
In the timeout before the play, McFerrin drew up a play where Hadavi would get an open jumper. After executing perfectly, the Eagles grabbed two of their 47 rebounds.
The 75 points the Eagles scored were a season-high. Along with Nusseibeh's 22, Hadavi scored 19 points and, including three 3-pointers, and Tara Williams scored 15 to lead a balanced scoring attack.
"This year has been tough for a lot of us, but today's game really showed how much we've matured as a team and what we're capable of," Nusseibeh said. "It's awesome to score 22 points, but more importantly we got the win that we needed."
The Leopards did their best to prevent AU from getting that win and were led by shooting star Kara Stetler, who scored a game-high 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting, including shooting 6 of 7 from behind the arc.
"We knew she was a shooter and we tried to make her go left and help out on her, but it just didn't happen for most of the game," McFerrin said.
The Eagles played very shorthanded again, as Nicole Ryan missed her eighth straight game and starting center Abby Lipskis played only six ineffective minutes as she continued to nurse a sore back.
The Eagles led at halftime by three, continuing their play of strong first halves, but this time they also played a strong second half.
"We needed to come out and make sure we defended our home court and played strong in the second half," said McFerrin. "Defensively, we played better and we shot the ball better today."
The Eagles now have a week off before heading up to Lehigh Saturday to face the Mountain Hawks at Stabler Arena. Lehigh beat the Eagles Jan. 7 at Bender.
