DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team suffered its second loss of the season on Friday, falling to Flagler, 83-76. The Eagles are now 1-2 on the year, while the Saints evened their record at 1-1. 
 
The Eagles got off to a solid start shooting 55 percent from the field in the first quarter and 40 percent in the second period to take a 42-33 lead at the half. Sarah Jones paced the Eagles with 12 first-half points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 performance each from the free throw line and from behind the arc. As a team ERAU bested the Saints 5-2 from long range and made five more (16-11) field goals to account for the nine-point lead at the half.
 
The third quarter saw the Blue and Gold struggle to take care of the basketball, registering eight miscues, compared to zero by Flagler. Additionally, the Eagles shooting cooled to just 25 percent (4-for-16), resulting in just 11 third-quarter points. On the other side of the ball, the Saints' 42.1 field goal percentage, coupled with 13 points of the eight Eagle turnovers resulted in a 20-point output for the visitors and a tied ball game at 53-53 heading into the fourth.
 
Both teams shot the ball well in the fourth, with ERAU shooting 58.3 percent and Flagler shooting 56.3 percent from the field. In a period that featured seven ties and six lead changes, turnovers proved to be the difference. The Saints' play featured only one miscue, but the Eagles turned the ball over five times, which Flagler converted into nine points.
 
Despite the turnovers, it was just a two-point game (74-72) in favor of the Saints with 1:26 left to play, but Flagler's only three of the second half at the 1:06 mark keyed a 9-4 run that helped the visitors pull out the seven-point win.
 
Jones and Nikki Tucker finished with 14 points each for ERAU, while Imani Jones added 12 points off the bench. Tucker and Sydney Jones had seven rebounds each, while Imani Jones pulled down six boards of her own.
 
Flagler's N'Mya Pierce led all scorers with 19 points, while Staci Miller and Scout Frame tallied 14 and 12 points, respectively.
 
"We did some good things today and we saw progress in areas, but definitely had mental lapses on some defensive possessions that hurt us where we fouled the shooter or didn't rotate quickly enough.  We played too inconsistently in the second half and we need to learn from those lapses and not let it happen again. We need to take games like this and watch a lot of the film for our young team to improve. We just beat ourselves in a few areas for sure." 
 
The Eagles are back in action at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday when they host Florida Southern in the first Sunshine State Conference game of the season.