The AU women's basketball team broke a four-game losing streak in dramatic fashion, upsetting second-place Army 58-54 Tuesday night at Bender Arena. The victory puts the Eagles in a third-place tie in the PL with Holy Cross, while the loss is only the fifth of the season for the Black Knights.
Contrary to their recent first-half struggles, the Eagles were able to put together a solid opening period of play that would propel them to victory. After trading baskets in the first few minutes of the game, AU would find itself down 17-12 midway through the first half thanks to a 9-4 run by Army.
These would be the last points Army would score in the first half, as the Eagles would take an 18-0 run over the final ten minutes to go up 30-17 at halftime.
The key to this run and the turning point in the game came at the 4:35 mark during a pair of free throws by junior Maggie Smith-Davidson. After converting her first foul shot, Army head coach Dave Magarty was assessed a technical foul for arguing with the referee. Sophomore Talicia Jackson hit both of the technical free throws and Smith-Davidson hit her final shot to complete the four-point play, changing the game from a 17-16 Army lead to a 20-17 Eagle advantage.
"We were junking them up a bit early but then we were able to make them miss shots," Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "We were also able to get an awful lot of rebounds, which was key to the first-half. We gave up only one offensive rebound during this run as well."
This run would be vital to the Eagles' win, as Army slowly whittled away at the lead throughout the second half. A quick 8-2 Army run to start the half cut the AU lead to 32-25 only four minutes into the period. AU would later stretch the lead back up to 52-39, their largest of the game with 8 minutes remaining but Army did not go away quietly.
A layup by Stefanie Stone capped a large 15-4 run by the Black Knights and brought them within two, 56-54 with only 33 seconds remaining in the game.
With the game on the line, senior Abby Lipskis's layup iced the game for the Eagles, giving them the 58-54 victory.
Army's Alex McGuire led all scorers with 22 points with teammate Jen Hansen chipped in 11 of her own. AU was led by three scorers registering in double-digits. Abby Lipskis led the team with 16, while Rachel Brazell and Sahar Nusseibeh scored 14 and 12 respectively.
Coach McFerrin was very impressed with the effort of her team, especially the aforementioned threesome.
"We've been looking for contributions from our post players all season," McFerrin said. "We did a great job of getting Abby the ball in good positions."
The Eagles look to continue their strong play against Holy Cross on Saturday in a game to break the tie for third-place.
