The American University women’s basketball team (0-7) lost 69-60 against the La Salle Explorers (4-4) on Nov. 23.
On Nov. 13, the Eagles faced the Longwood Lancers at Bender Arena in a low-scoring 59-41 loss. With full court press from the Lancers, the Eagles struggled in the game but saw positive performances by freshmen guard Molly Driscoll, guard Elizabeth Archer and forward Cecilia Kay leading the team with 8 points each.
Coming into the game, Kay was the team’s points leader, averaging 12 points per game. She increased on her average during an impressive 19-point performance versus the Explorers.
The game kicked off with several early lead changes in the first minute, until American got ahead in scoring through gaining control of defensive rebounds, leading to easy fast break points. Senior Bailey Garbee made her impact known early by scoring the first 3-pointer for the Eagles.
“I thought [Garbee] really stepped up, and she played phenomenal today for us. It was great to have her back in the starting line,” head coach Tiffany Coll said.
La Salle took strong control of the lead with 5:31 left in the first quarter, significantly outshooting the Eagles — but with a lower made shot percentage. The Explorers also maintained better ball control over American, limiting turnovers to zero compared to the Eagles’ seven turnovers in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the high turnover trend continued for the Eagles, with several errant passes ending up in the hands of a La Salle player. The Explorers gained the largest lead of the game at the beginning of the second quarter at 21-14. Down by 7, American increased their intensity in the face of La Salle’s ironclad defense in the paint and took the opportunity to take more ranged shots. Graduate student guard Ivy Bales and junior guard Laura Nogues both sank 3-pointers to regain the lead with 6:10 left in the half. This turned into a scoring run to increase the lead to the largest the Eagles would get on the day.
“We contested their shooters pretty well,” Coll said of the second quarter run. “We got some good stops, and we would ‘out’ the ball at the floor quickly. Once we got the ball to our wings, we had cleaner looks with some numbers advantage… that helped us see the floor a little cleaner, which helped our shooters get more open shots.”
Faced with American’s renewed intensity, La Salle became more sloppy in their ball possession and began to commit turnovers. Their defense also broke down, fouling Kay under the basket. This did not end up harming the Explorers, however, as Kay was only 1-5 from the free-throw line in the first half.
Meanwhile, La Salle, made all of their free throws in the second quarter and took back the lead after applying full-court coverage at the end of the quarter to take advantage of AU’s 14th turnover to go up 35-31 at halftime.
Coming into the third quarter, Bales and Kay both led the Eagles with 7 points, and Kay also led in rebounds, blocks and steals. Kay continued to push the intensity in the paint, able to score under pressure from La Salle defenders and drawing more fouls to increase her made free-throw percentage.
Despite still being down in the 3rd, the Eagles continued their year-long trend of resiliency to tie the game at 44 with 3:09 left in the quarter. Following Kay’s tie-making shot, La Salle changed strategies and adopted a zone defense to limit fouls in the paint going into the fourth quarter.
This turned out to be a successful move by La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray as Kay was heavily limited in the fourth quarter as American’s interior passing struggled to get the ball under the basket without adding to the Eagles’ high turnover rate.
On the defensive end, the Eagles’ defense began to crack in the fourth quarter as players committed shooting fouls to a La Salle team not struggling from the free-throw line. Three Explorers were perfect from the free-throw line during the game, compared to the Eagles, with Kay’s 3-7 and junior guard Anna Rescifina’s 1-2.
With 39 seconds left, American was down by 7 points and threw a desperate bid for a 3-pointer that led to a sequence of successful offensive rebounding after three different shots put up unsuccessfully for the Eagles. La Salle achieved the final cut to the Eagles by making both free throws in the final 20 seconds, ending the game with a 9-point lead.
The game was American’s fifth consecutive loss. The Eagles traveled to Puerto Rico to compete over the week of Nov. 27 and lost their two games versus the Milwaukee Panthers and the Winthrop Eagles. After another loss on the road to the Towson Tigers on Dec. 7, the team will seek their first win against the George Washington Revolutionaries at Bender Arena on Dec. 16.
“We’re building piecemeal by piecemeal, and we do have a young team,” Coll said. “We’re a little on the inexperienced side, but we are building, and we have a lot of talent.”
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Emma Brown, Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Nicole Kariuki.
