The AU women's basketball team experienced its first two losses of the season over the weekend at the Subway Classic, falling to the University of Minnesota Gophers 79-62 on Saturday before losing to the North Carolina State University Wolfpack 73-63 on Sunday. The two defeats drop the Eagles to 3-2 on the young season.
In the game against the Gophers, the Eagles quickly fell behind 8-2 in the first two minutes of the game and 13-7 before the Eagles went on a small 5-0 run with buckets by sophomore forward Michelle Kirk and freshman guard Ebony Edwards pulled AU within one at 12:32.
However, this would be as close as the Eagles would get throughout the rest of the game, as the Gophers went on a 13-1 run over the next four minutes to take a commanding 26-13 lead, a lead they would hold onto at 40-33 at halftime.
The Eagles opened the second half by scoring back-to-back buckets by senior guard Pam Stanfeld and redshirt junior guard Nicole Ryan free throws to cut the margin to 40-37.
Once again, Minnesota pushed the lead to 13 at the 11:40 mark, extending their lead to 17 by the end of the game to hold on for the 79-62 win.
Ryan led all Eagles in scoring at 18, her fourth straight game with double-digits.
In the second game of the weekend against the Wolfpack, the Eagles once again fell behind early, as N.C. State went on a 12-0 run to start the game.
AU finally scored their first points of the game on a three-pointer by Kirk at the 14:42 mark to cut the lead down to 12-3.
The Eagles came within four thanks to a senior guard Talicia Jackson three-pointer to make the score 25-21 with five minutes remaining in the half, but the Wolfpack went on a 13-1 run in the final minutes to take a 38-22 lead at halftime.
The Eagles continued to battle in the second half, cutting the lead down to six at 40-34 with 15 minutes to play in the game but this would as close as AU got for the rest of the game, as N.C. State increased their lead to 49-36 minutes later before cruising to a 73-63 win.
Kirk led the Eagles in scoring with 16 points while Ryan once again registered double-digits with 12 points of her own.
The Eagles will return to action at 7 p.m. Friday as they travel to take on Morgan State University.
You can reach this staff writer at jhall@theeagleonline.com.
