DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team wrapped up a four-game home stand with a 78-63 defeat of Palm Beach Atlantic, Wednesday at the ICI Center. The Eagles solidified their hold on second place in the Sunshine State Conference standings with an 8-3 record and improved to 14-4 overall.
The Eagles distributed the ball well throughout the course of Wednesday's contest, registering 19 assists on their 31 made field goals as 10 players appeared in the scoring column.
Lauren Ellenberger led the way with 14 points, six assists and four rebounds, while Nikki Tucker added 13 points and
Ashley McWilliams and
Sigrid Sandstrom tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Eagles overcame a slow start after missing their first five attempts, knocking down three consecutive long-range shots to overtake the Sailfish 9-3. An old-fashioned three-point play from Ciarra Cumbie made it a one-point (9-8) game, but the Eagles responded with a 13-6 run over the next five minutes and led 22-14 at the end of the first quarter.
The Sailfish made it a close game at the start of the second frame closing the gap to three points (26-23) with 6:48 left in the period. However, the Eagles found success down low, besting the visitors 14-6 in the paint to widen the gap to 11 points (40-29) at the half.
The third quarter saw the Eagles look to their perimeter game for some offense and that strategy paid off as they drilled five of eight treys in that period, compared to just one by PBA, and heading into the fourth, the lead had ballooned to 19 points (65-46).
The final stanza saw the Sailfish outscore the home team 17-13, but the early Eagle advantage proved insurmountable as the visitors fell to 4-14 overall and 3-9 in league play.
"That was a great team win tonight," ERAU Head Coach Lisa Nuxol-Wilson said. "Palm Beach Atlantic has some good players who made some tough shots, but overall we did a solid job defensively and rebounding. We shared the ball well and got each other good shots. I'm proud of the team for maintaining intensity all four quarters. We took four charges and I really loved that effort!"
Next up for the Blue and Gold is a Saturday road game at Saint Leo. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.
