DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball earned its first-ever postseason win on Wednesday night, downing Nova Southeastern 90-84 at the ICI Center. The No. 3 seed in the eight-team tournament, the Eagles improved to 22-6 on the year and advanced to Saturday's semifinal round where they will take on Eckerd.
 
"What an awesome game!" ERAU Head Coach Lisa Nuxol-Wilson stated. "It was a battle from start to finish, as we expected. Nova is a great team and a program that we have a lot of respect for. We picked up our defensive intensity in the second half and some players made really big plays down the stretch on both ends; and that's what you need this time of year."
 
The Eagles' season-high 90 points was the result of a balanced scoring effort as six of the eight players who took the court scored in double digits. Sigrid Sandstrom led the way with a career-best and game-high 19 points to go with three rebounds and three assists. Sabrina Whiting finished with 17 points, while Lauren Ellenberger capped her night with 16 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and two steals. Ashley McWilliams and Nikki Tucker added 13 points apiece, and Tara Fields finished with 12 points.
 
The first 10 minutes of play featured four ties and eight lead changes. At the 2:48 mark, Ellenberger drained her first three of the game to tie the score at 16-16. McWilliams and Fields each recorded a layup to put the Eagles up by four (20-16), and from that point, Whiting took over. The senior tallied five points and came up with two big steals in the final 1:33 to stake the Eagles to a 28-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
Sandstrom's jumper extended the Eagle lead to eight (30-22) to start the second quarter, but Hailey Conley responded with a three-pointer and that basket keyed a 19-9 NSU run that knotted the score at 41-41 at the 3:25 mark. The Eagles turned the ball over nine times in the period and went scoreless over the last four minutes. The Sharks, who outscored the Eagles 25-13 in the second frame, capitalized on ERAU's offensive woes and took a 47-41 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
The long range shot got the Eagles back into the game quickly as back-to-back treys by Tucker and Ellenberger drew the Eagles level with the Sharks at 47-47. Both teams went back and forth over the next four minutes until a pair of threes by Whiting and a layup by Ellenberger gave ERAU a five-point (63-59) advantage. The Sharks were able to make it a one-point game when Skyla Osceola was awarded three free throws as time expired, and at the start of the fourth, the Eagle lead was 63-62.
 
The Eagles were able to build the lead to six points (70-64) at the start of the final quarter, but once again, NSU was able to battle back and at with 4:11 left to play, Taylor Smith put the visitors up 71-70. Tucker scored three with a layup and a free throw and then drilled her second trey of the game on the Eagles' next possession to make it a five-point (76-71) game once again.
 
Nova Southeastern shot the ball well in the fourth, going 60 percent (9-of-15) from the field, compared to a 7-of-13 effort by the Eagles, but the difference in the quarter came at the charity stripe. In the first three quarters, the Eagles combined for eight free throw attempts. In the fourth quarter they were 11-of-15. With 2:20 left to play, the momentum started to shift in the Eagles' favor. A Fields jumper and a McWilliams layup brought the crowd to its feet and appeared to rattle the NSU squad who turned the ball over on its next trip down the court. With 45 seconds left to play, the Sharks elected to send the Eagles to the free throw line. Sandstrom, who was 9-of-10 for the game, went to the free throw line eight times in the last 45 seconds and connected on seven of those attempts to seal the victory for the Eagles.
 
Alison Hughes matched Sandstrom's scoring output with 19 points, and Christen Prasse and Hailey Conley chipped in 17 and 15 points, respectively for a Shark team that closed out the season at 13-14.
 
"A big part of our success tonight was the support we got from the crowd," Nuxol-Wilson remarked. "We started hitting some big shots late in the game and then the crowd behind us and that was huge for us down the stretch. Thank you to all fans, family and friends that came out to support us tonight.
 
"We are so happy for these seniors. They started with a win in the ICI center four years ago and we were able to get a win for their last game in the ICI Center tonight!"
 
Saturday's semifinal is schedule to tip at 7:30 p.m. at Jenkins Field House on the campus of Florida Southern in Lakeland, Fla.