DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team ended its first season in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 Sun Conference Tournament with a 72-61 loss to Thomas, Thursday at the ICI Center. The Eagles, who were the No. 4 seed in the eight-team tournament, finished at 17-12 overall, while Thomas improved to 12-16 and move on to the semifinal round.
 
Mercedes Jorge led the Eagle scorers with 17 points to go with seven rebounds. Sabrina Whiting and Kalah Martin added 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Tara Fields matched Jorge's efforts on the boards with seven rebounds.
 
Courtney Saunds had a dominant game for the Night Hawks, racking up 36 points, three rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, playing all 40 minutes.
 
The Eagles got off to a slow start as they turned the ball over on five of their first six possessions, which allowed the Night Hawks to open up a 7-0 lead. The Eagles were able to settle down and went on a 13-3 run to overtake Thomas 13-11 with 10:48 left in the first half.
 
Over the next six minutes, the Blue and Gold widened the gap to nine points (27-18), but in the final 4:16, the Eagles managed only one point on a  Jorge free throw. During that stretch, the Night Hawks got their offense back on track and bested the Eagles 8-1 to tie the score at 28-28 at the intermission.
 
Jorge knocked down a three-pointer to open the Eagles' scoring in the second half and drained another long range shot three minutes later to reclaim a six-point (38-32) lead for ERAU. Whiting got three points the old-fashioned way to extend the advantage to 41-32 and a jumper by Kalah Martin helped the Eagles maintain that nine-point lead with 14:28 left to play.
 
The Night Hawks scored three points on each of their next two possessions courtesy of an Ivory Smith jumper and free throw, and a three-pointer by Tess Wright to pull Thomas within three (43-40). Once again, the Eagles were plagued by turnovers, coming up empty on each of their next eight trips on offense. The Night Hawks took advantage of the Eagles' struggles and put together a 14-0 run to move ahead by seven, 50-43.
 
The Eagles were able to stop the Thomas run and made it a two-point (50-48) game on a  Martin layup with 8:17 left on the clock. The Night Hawks responded to the Eagle rally by building their lead back up to nine points (59-50).
 
A layup by Jorge and a pair of Whiting free throws made the score 59-54, but that was as close as the Eagles would get as Thomas made a living at the charity stripe in the last 3:16 to come away with the win.

" I am extremely proud of our team and where we are as a first year program," ERAU Head Coach Lisa Nuxol-Wilson said. "Although everyone wants to win their last game,  our players and staff knew our goals this year and laying the foundation for this program and creating a great culture was a top goal. We feel we achieved that on the court and in the classroom. We look forward to the spring and off season and we know these young ladies will work very hard to continue to improve and grow as a program".