After a disappointing loss at Army on Wednesday, the AU women’s basketball team bounced back and defeated The College of the Holy Cross 84-53 Saturday.
The Eagles put forth an exceptional offensive effort shooting over 60 percent from the field. The team had 11 turnovers and 19 assists.
“I’m just really proud of the way that we shared the ball and how unselfish this team is,” Head Coach Matt Corkery said. “This is a team that cares about each other and they want to give the ball away when it’s appropriate and we saw that today.”
Junior guard Lisa Strack led AU with a game-high 18 points as well as four rebounds and two steals. Senior forward Liz Leer scored 11 points. Alexis Dobbs and Ashley Yencho both contributed 10 points. Whitney Fremeau of Holy Cross had a team-high 12 points. Fremeau was the only Crusader who scored in double figures.
“The Army loss was a really tough one and we knew coming in to practice that we had to forget about it and focus on Holy Cross,” Strack said. “We wanted to make a statement in this game to let everyone know that we are not going away.”
At the start of the first half, the Eagles and Crusaders were evenly matched, with impressive defense from both teams. A three-pointer by Yencho gave AU a solid 46-31 lead going into the second half.
At the start of the second half, AU continued to expand their lead by utilizing players from the bench. About halfway through the period, freshman Geleisa George had a crucial steal that resulted in a layup by Yencho. Dobbs put the nail in the coffin after she hit a three pointer that expanded the lead to a commanding 30 points.
“I think it’s really great that we got to exploit all the type of players that we have,” Yencho said. “We have a lot of different kinds of scorers and it was really great to see how well we all work together.”
Within the last two minutes of the game, freshman guard Ti’Asia McGeorge came up big with back-to-back three pointers to further expand an already large lead. In the end, the Eagles won by 31 points.
Corkery said the team played more aggressively after the Army loss.
“It wasn’t about what we were doing but how we were doing it,” he said. “We really tried to emphasize that and that was really our focal point.”
The Eagles have won five of their last six games going into Wednesday night’s game against Patriot League rival Navy.
In the Patriot League stands, AU is third behind conference leader Navy and United States Military Academy.
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