DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Tuesday, falling to NCAA II Puerto Rico Mayaguez 69-64 at the ICI Center. The Janes were effective from long range (42.9 percent) and from the charity stripe (80.0 percent), which helped them improve to 2-2 on the year, while the Eagles slipped to 2-1.
Mercedes Jorge paced the Eagle offense with 13 points and completed the first double-double of her Embry-Riddle career with 13 boards. Jorge also led the team in steals with four, while
Taylor Cyphers totaled 12 points and eight rebounds, and
Sabrina Whiting chipped in eight points, five rebounds and five assists.
Kalah Martin scored the first bucket of the game, but the Janes responded with eight unanswered points to take six-point (8-2) lead. Puerto Rico Mayaguez built the advantage to as many as 13 points as the Blue and Gold struggled shooting the ball, managing just 25.8 percent (8-of-31) from the field, including just 2-for-11 from the three-point line in the first 20 minutes.
Yaileen Medina scored 11 of her 15 points in the first frame to help the Janes to a 35-25 lead at the break.
The second half saw the Eagles improve their field goal shooting considerably, going 15-of-36 (41.7 percent) from the field and 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from beyond the arc. The home team managed to cut the lead to five (44-39) at the 14-minute mark, but the Janes went on a 13-3 run that built the advantage to 57-42 with 10:28 left to play.
With 5:17 remaining, the Eagles still trailed by double digits (65-51), but they capitalized on eight missed field goals and a pair of turnovers by the visitors to chip away at the lead, and with 25 seconds left, were down only six points.
After Maria Nieves made one of two free throws, the Eagles found Jorge on the other end and the sophomore buried her second three of the night to make it a four-point game.
On the next Puerto Rico Mayaguez possession Jorge forced a Mei-Lin Muniz turnover in the backcourt and quickly got the pass to Whiting with eight seconds left. Whiting opted for the quick three-pointer but was fouled in the act of shooting, sending her to the line to shoot three. Whiting connected on just one of her three attempts and although the Eagles got the offensive rebound, they were unable knock down the tying trey they were looking for and Kenisha Garcia sealed the Janes' win with a pair of free throws.
Marta Nieves was the leading scorer for the Janes, going 7-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 in three-pointers for a game-high 19 points.
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Lakeland to take on NCAA II foe Florida Southern. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
