MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball came away from the Clemente Center with a 59-48 win over Florida Tech on Wednesday, marking the Eagles' first win on the Panthers' home court. Wednesday's result also gave the four-year-old women's basketball program its first 20-win season, as the Eagles improved to 20-6 overall and 14-5 in Sunshine State Conference play.
 
Despite playing limited minutes due to foul trouble, Tara Fields vaulted to the top of the Eagles' single-season scoring list as her game-high 14 points put her at 388 for the 2017-18 campaign, eclipsing Sabrina Whiting's 383 points in 2015-16..
 
Reigning SSC Player of the Week Lauren Ellenberger was one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards, while Nikki Tucker matched Fields with 14 points on the night.
 
Neither side shot the ball particularly well in the first half with the Eagles connecting on 38.3 percent (10- of-27) of their shot attempts and the Panthers going 7-of-29 from the field. The Panthers held a slim 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, but they were outscored 11-5 by the Eagles, who took a 22-17 lead into the halftime break.
 
In the first half, the Eagles managed just two long-range baskets. In the third period alone, the Blue and Gold was 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Tucker opened the third with her first trey of the game and a Fields layup quickly extended the lead to 10 points (27-17) in the first 1:16 of the period. The Panthers managed to come within six points (27-21), but two more threes by Tucker, and one three each from Ellenberger and Morgan Ackermann quickly widened the gap to 18 (41-23) late in the third.
 
After not making a single free throw attempt in the first three periods, free throws were the story of the final frame for the Eagles who scored 15 of their 18 fourth-quarter points from the charity stripe. Tucker's three at the 6:48 mark was the only field goal for an ERAU team that was 1-of-7 from the field in the final 10 minutes of play.
 
The Panthers, who were 7-of-21 from the field and 3-of-11 from long range in the fourth, made it a seven-point (55-48) game on Markeema Crawford's three with 1:45 left to play, but those were the Panthers' last points of the game as two free throws each from Sabrina Whiting and Sigrid Sandstrom sealed the win for the Blue and Gold.
 
Crawford was the Panthers' high scorer with 13 as Florida Tech dropped to 11-14 overall and 8-11 in the league with the loss.
 
"Tonight was a tough road win for us and we found a way to get it done," ERAU Head Coach Lisa Nuxol-Wilson said. "FIT is a physical, athletic team and they played really hard down the stretch and made us earn the win.
 
"We didn't shoot the ball extremely well and we missed a lot of open shots, and had way too many turnovers. However, we worked hard on defense and stuck with our game plan. Lauren made some big defensive plays and took three charges, and Nikki shot well from the three, which got us some momentum when we needed it."
 
The Eagles will close out regular season play against SSC regular season champion Florida Southern at 4 p.m. on Saturday.