LAKELAND, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball mounted a comeback late in the game, but it was not enough to overcome an early deficit as the Eagles suffered a 67-56 road loss to Florida Southern, Saturday at the Jenkins Field House.
Sabrina Whiting led the Eagles in scoring with 12 points, while
Lauren Ellenberger turned in a 10-point, seven-assist performance.
Taylor Cyphers was a field goal shy of a double-double with 13 boards and eight points as the Eagles moved to 6-18 on the year.
The Eagles bounced back after being down 4-0 in the first quarter to overtake Florida Southern 8-7 at the 7:10 mark, but the Moccasins ended the quarter on a 13-2 run and outscored ERAU 24-12 in the second to lead by 18 (42-24) at halftime.
An Ellenberger trey keyed a 6-0 ERAU run to start the third quarter and the Eagles chipped away at the Moccasin lead, making it a 12-point (42-30) game with 7:10 left in the quarter. The Eagles shot the ball well in the third, going 7-of-11 from the floor for a 63.6 percent clip, but the Moccasins also managed to connect on seven field goal attempts and matched the Eagles' 17-point output to maintain their 18-point (59-41) advantage.
In the fourth quarter the Eagles trimmed the margin to 12 points (62-50) once again on a pair of Whiting free throws. Jumpers by Danielle Thomas and Samantha Famulare reclaimed a 17-point advantage for the home team at the 3:09 mark, but those were the Moccasins' last points of the game. The Eagles, who outscored Florida Southern 15-8 in the final frame, went on another 6-0 run late in the quarter, but ran out of time before they could further narrow the gap.
"We had a rough first half of shooting both from the field and from the free throw line," ERAU Head Coach Lisa Nuxol-Wilson commented. "We needed to step up our defense and we didn't do that consistently enough. So we came out down to start the second half again and fought back like we always do, but couldn't dig ourselves out of the hole we created. The girls are working really hard, we just have to get over that hump and start putting two halves together."
Jensen Blassage led all scorers with 18 points, shooting 6-of-7 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line as the Moccasins improved to 21-4 with the win.
The Eagles will return to the ICI Center on Wednesday for their final home game of the season. The Blue and Gold will host Barry at 5:30 p.m.
