LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team suffered its second loss in as many games on Wednesday, falling to Bellarmine on the road, 80-60. The Eagles wrapped up the pre-Christmas portion of their 2019-20 slate at 5-5, while Bellarmine improved to 5-3 with the win.
 
Freshman Keturah Balabyekkubo came off the bench for a career-high 12 points to go with two steals. Nikki Tucker came within two rebounds of a double-double, matching Balabyekkubo's scoring output with 12 points of her own while pulling down a game-high eight rebounds and dishing out three assists.
 
Alisha Owens led a quartet of double-digit scorers for Bellarmine as she finished with a game-high 20 points.
 
The game was close in the first quarter with both teams shooting better than 50 percent from the field. The Eagles were 6-of-10 from the field, 3-of-3 from long range and 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the first 10 minutes and held a one-point (11-10) lead with 4:21 left in the period. But the Knights connected on 10 of their 19 field goal attempts, which helped them to a 22-10 edge over ERAU at the end of the quarter.
 
The Knights continued to shoot the ball well in the second period, going 9-of-16 from the field. The Eagles' shooting, on the other hand, cooled to just 28.6 percent (4-for-14), which allowed Bellarmine to take a 43-31 lead into the halftime break.
 
Bellarmine continued to add to its lead to start the third quarter and at the 4:40 mark, the Knights had widened the gap to 20 points (55-35). A minute later, Tucker drew a foul and her two free throws triggered an 8-0 run that cut the Bellarmine lead to 12 (55-43). Ally Mayhaus ended the Eagle run with a layup at the 1:24 mark, and the Knights scored the last five points of the period to make it 60-43 heading into the final frame.
 
The Blue and Gold went on another run to start the fourth quarter, outscoring the Knights 8-2 in the first two minutes to cut the lead to 10 (62-52). However, that was as close as the Eagles would get as Bellarmine doubled up the Eagles in made field goals 8-4 to seal the win.
 
"This was a tough road game for us for sure," ERAU Head Coach Lisa Wilson said. "Bellarmine is a very good team and our young players definitely needed more than one day to prepare for them. We pulled to within 10 in the fourth and our players kept fighting, so we are proud of them for staying together and fighting. 
 
"We showed some good things in spurts and will definitely use this to learn from. It will help us in the long run for SSC play. Now we'll take a much-needed break and we will be ready for conference play the rest of the way!"

The Eagles will be back in action at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 2 when they get into the meat of the Sunshine State Conference schedule with a road game at Barry.