DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle women's basketball returned to the win column on Tuesday evening with a 78-59 win over the visiting Thomas Night Hawks. The result moves both team's conference records to 7-9, while ERAU now stands at 15-11 overall and TU falls to 10-15.
Mercedes Jorge led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting while also grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Sabrina Whiting added 18 points and Kalah Martin scored 11 while dishing out a game-high four assists.
Courtney Saunds led the Night Hawks with 18 points while Jessica Anderson had 13. Laura Cherranfant tallied 12 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
The Blue and Gold overcame 26 turnovers by shooting 50 percent from the field (28-of-56) while limiting TU to just 30 percent (21-of-70). ERAU was also more efficient from the free throw line, converting 17-of-22 while Thomas was 13-of-22.
The Night Hawks were the first to establish a noteworthy lead when they pulled ahead by eight (15-7) with 14:36 left in the first half. TU maintained that lead for about 10 minutes until Embry-Riddle went on a 13-0 run over the final 4:24 of the period, turning a seven-point deficit into a six-point halftime lead (36-30).
Thomas came out of the locker room and scored seven straight to open the second half, regaining the lead, 37-36. Jorge converted a layup to put the home team back in front, 38-37, and the Eagles would not relinquish the lead from that point.
A pair of free throws from Whiting made it a six-point game (49-43) with 12:28 to play and about four minutes later a Whiting steal led directly to a Jorge layup to build the lead to 10 (59-49).
TU closed the gap to five points (59-54) with 5:05 on the clock, but Thomas couldn't find much offense down the stretch, scoring just five more points in the game. The Eagles hit their free throws in crunch time, with ERAU's last 10 points coming at the charity stripe. Embry-Riddle finished the contest on a 19-5 run to pull away for the 78-59 win.
The Eagles will host Florida Memorial in the final home game of the program's inaugural season on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m. Embry-Riddle will honor Alicia Jackson, the team's lone senior, prior to the game.
