DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team opened up its inaugural season in style, picking up a 79-55 victory over visiting Clearwater Christian on Friday night. Taylor Cyphers had 20 points to lead the Eagles in scoring, as ERAU moved to 1-0 on the season and CCC fell to 0-3.

Kalah Martin added 18 points, nine rebounds and six steals for the Blue and Gold, while Ashley McWilliams chipped in 13 points and five assists.

Hallie Linville led the Cougars with a game-high 30 points to go along with eight boards and Liz Jenkins contributed 16 points.

Martin picked up the program's first rebound 17 seconds into the contest and also scored the first points in program history, knocking down a three with 18:44 on the clock, setting off a rain of confetti on the 1,346 fans. Mercedes Jorge assisted on Martin's triple, recording the first assist in school history.

Cyphers collected the program's first steal 2:33 into the game; six seconds later she knocked down a trey to put the Eagles ahead, 6-4, which would prove to be the final lead change of the game as ERAU never looked back.

Martin connected on a pair of free throws just over four minutes into the game to make it a 10-4 lead, marking the first free throws for the new Eagle program.

The Eagle lead grew to double-digits for the first time when Cyphers drove for a layup with 12:32 left in the half, making it an 18-8 game. Just over four minutes later, Martin drilled a three to push the margin to 17 points (31-14), the largest lead of the half. Embry-Riddle would head into the locker room with a 40-26 halftime lead.

The Blue and Gold came out strong in the second period, scoring 12 of the first 13 points to increase the lead to 52-27 less than three minutes into the half. The Cougars found their footing and were able to trim the deficit from 25 down to 16 (54-38), but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the contest.

Cyphers hit a jumper with 7:14 remaining to cap a 10-2 run that put the home team ahead, 72-45. The Eagles maintained a comfortable advantage the rest of the way, claiming a 79-55 victory.

The Eagles will be back in action on Monday when they travel to Temple Terrace to face Florida College. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.