DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team fell to the visiting Tampa Spartans on Wednesday evening, 61-50. UT shot 54.2 percent from the floor while holding the Eagles to just 37.5 percent shooting. The Spartans improve to 12-9 with the win while the Eagles fall to 6-14.
 
Sabrina Whiting led the Eagles with 14 points and added five boards and four steals. Tara Fields chipped in eight points and Mercedes Jorge pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with five points.
 
The Spartans came out of the gates quickly, taking an 8-2 lead just 2:13 into the game. Embry-Riddle fought back to tie it at 8-8 with 6:13 to play in the first period. Tampa quickly retook the lead and closed out the first quarter with an 18-14 advantage.
 
Whiting scored a layup just over three minutes into the second quarter to cut the UT lead to just two points (23-21), but the visitors rattled off 12 straight points over the next five minutes to grow the lead to 35-21. Tampa held on to the 14-point lead, going into halftime ahead 37-24.
 
The Blue and Gold fought back in the third, and a Jorge layup with 3:54 to play in the quarter pulled the home side to with four points at 40-36. But that would be the final points for ERAU in the quarter as UT finished the period on a 7-0 run to push its lead to 47-36.
 
Embry-Riddle couldn't muster a fourth-quarter comeback, falling by a final score of 61-50.
 
The Eagles return to the court next Wednesday, Feb. 10, for a road tilt at Eckerd. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. in St. Petersburg.