Behind a strong effort from Liz Leer and contributions from the bench, the AU women’s basketball team defeated the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Hawks 73-47 on Sunday in their only exhibition game of the season.
Leer, the reigning first team All-Patriot League selection, totaled 14 points and shot 5 for 8 from the field, while Nicole Ryan scored 11 points. Michelle Kirk and Lisa Strack also each scored 10 points, making for a total of four players scoring in double figures.
“I think that is going to be huge this year that we can have four players that can average double figures,” Leer said. “We have many upperclassmen that have a lot of experience and we also have some newcomers that are going to be very good for us.”
AU opened up with an 8-0 lead early in the game with Tori Halvorsen scoring the first two points within seconds of the tip-off. The Eagles took advantage of free-throw opportunities on IUP’s 12 personal fouls that allowed them to overcome defensive errors in the first half. By the end of the game, the Hawks had allowed 18 turnovers and had 15 total fouls.
“Defense is the pride of the Eagles,” Leer said. “But to be honest our defense wasn’t as good as it should have been today.”
IUP’s defense was nonexistent and their offense failed to come alive. At the end of the first half, they trailed AU by 10 points, 32-22.
A three-pointer by Leer followed by another three from Ryan spurred a 20-5 Eagles run to start the second half. Ashley Yencho further extended the Eagles’ comfortable lead to 48-25 following a three-pointer with 14 minutes remaining.
After Leer’s fourth foul during the second half, Coach Matt Corkery started to utilize his bench players. Sarah Kiely contributed six points, scoring two field goals to go along with two free throws. Coach Corkery said it was important during an exhibition game like this one, to give everyone on the team some playing time.
“Sarah Kiely did a nice job,” Coach Corkery said. “This is the first college action that she has ever seen and she was pretty opportunistic. She really stepped up and kind of kept us rolling right there.”
Two players that also stepped up were Stephanie Anya, a sophomore, and Brooke Forsythe, a freshman. Both scored within the final four minutes of the game, followed by a shot from Strack that ended the contest at 73-45 in AU’s favor.
Both Coach Corkery and Leer said that they think the team has a lot of potential going into the season. As for today’s game, Coach Corkey said, “it was a great learning experience, but East Carolina is going to be a completely different animal.”
The Eagles will start the regular season on Nov. 12 against East Carolina University. It will mark the beginning of the 2010-11 season after the Eagles fell in the Patriot League Championship last season. Despite the loss, the Eagles ended the season with a final record of 22-10 and 13-1 in the conference.
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