FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team had its best offensive outing so far this season scoring a season-best 86 points in an 86-66 defeat of Lee, Friday at the NSU Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Nova Southeastern. The Eagles were dominant in the battle of two undefeated teams and they are off to the best start in program history at 5-0, while Lee falls to 4-1 with the loss.
 
Seniors Sabrina Whiting and Tara Fields accounted for 56 percent of the Eagle offense as Whiting scored a career-high 28 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and Field tallied a season-best 20 points to go with three boards, two blocks and two steals.
 
As a team, the Eagles shot 52.7 percent (29-of-55) from the field, including an impressive 76.9 percent (10-for-13) performance in the fourth quarter, while the Eagle defense limited the Lady Flames to just 39 percent shooting.
 
A layup by Fields followed by a Whiting trey staked the Eagles to a 5-0 lead to start the game, and the Blue and Gold never looked back. Taylor Boggess' jumper made it a three-point game at the 5:41 mark of the first quarter, but the Eagles closed out the period on a 13-3 run to take a 20-8 lead.
 
The Flames outscored the Eagles 7-2 in the first two minutes of the second to narrow the gap to seven, but Whiting, who was a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe, knocked down back-to back free throws that triggered a 16-8 run and gave ERAU a 39-25 cushion at the half.
 
The third quarter saw the Lady Flames outscore the Eagles by a point (21-20) but the fourth quarter belonged to ERAU. Lauren Ellenberger was scoreless in the first half of play, but exploded for 11 of her 13 points in the final frame. The junior scored the Eagles' first 11 points of the third on a layup a three three-pointers to help ERAU come away with the 20-point victory.
 
"I am extremely proud of our team today, " ERAU Head Coach Lisa Nuxol-Wilson said. "Lee is a very, very good team and an established program. We executed our defensive game plan today. We worked hard pushing each other in practice this week, and we were mentally tough enough to play hard for each other and answer their runs during the game.
 
We have to stay consistent and find a way to be ready for West Alabama less then 24 hours from now, so our bench needs to be ready to contribute tomorrow!"
 
The Eagles close out tournament play at noon on Saturday in a rematch against West Alabama.