DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team pulled out a dramatic five-point win over Rollins (11-8, 4-7 SSC) in Sunshine State Conference action on Wednesday, topping the Tars 62-57 at the ICI Center. The win completed the Eagles' season sweep of the Tars and improved their overall record to 7-11 and their SSC record to 5-7.

"I'm really proud of our team for finding a way to win tonight," ERAU Head Coach Lisa Wilson said. "We didn't shoot the ball well at all tonight, but we made shots down the stretch and got defensive stops when we needed them. We had quite a lull in the third quarter but woke up in the fourth."
 
With the Eagles trailing by four points late in the fourth, Shelby Bischoff and Sydney Jones came up with key defensive plays to give the Eagles a chance to win and they capitalized on the offensive end of the court, outscoring the visitors 9-0 down the stretch to secure the win.

Rollins scored the first points of the game but were quickly overtaken by the Eagles who went on a 6-0 run to take a 6-2 lead. ERAU was 7-of-12 from the field in the first 10 minutes of action and took a 18-14 lead into the second quarter.

ERAU outscored Rollins 11-6 to start the second frame, but the Tars battled back to close the gap and a Rachel Jablonski three-pointer at the buzzer cut the Eagle advantage to just three points (30-27) at the half. 

The start of the third saw the Eagles manage just two points in the first six minutes of the period. The Eagles' 4-of-12 shooting in the third was no match for the Tars' six made field goals, three of which were from long range, and after tallying just eight points in the quarter, the Eagles went into the last 10 minutes of the game trailing by six (44-38).

The Eagles went on a mini run to start the fourth period, but treys by Jablonski and Jaylyn Harrison quickly helped the Tars reclaim their nine-point advantage. The fourth quarter saw the Eagles win the free throw battle connecting on 10 of 15 attempts compared to a 0-for-1 effort by the Tars, and it was a pair of free throws by Sarah Jones that jump started the ERAU rally and pulled the Eagles within four (52-48).

With 1:47 left to play, the Tar lead was still four points (57-53). After Bischoff drew a charge to force a Rollins turnover, Coach Wilson called timeout and out of the huddle, the Eagles got the ball to Rachel Murray who hit a jump shot in the paint. Murray was fouled on the play and knocked down the resulting free throw to cut the Rollins lead to one point (57-56).

The Tars missed on their next trip down the court and the Sydney Jones rebound eventually made its way to Nikki Tucker whose layup gave ERAU its first lead (58-57) since the second period with 37 seconds remaining. With 19 seconds left and the Eagles up by two (59-57) Harrison took a shot in the paint but Sydney Jones came up with a big block and Bischoff corralled the rebound to give the Eagles the ball with 10 seconds remaining in the contest. 

Although they made just two of their last four free throws, the Eagle defense was able to limit the Tars to just one three-point attempt in the final seconds of the contest to seal the win.

Sarah Jones led all players with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Tucker, the newest member of the Eagles' 1,000-point and 500-rebound clubs, added 15 points and six rebounds. Sydney Jones and Bischoff both had career rebounding performances in Wednesday's game, totaling 10 and eight boards, respectively.

"Sarah Jones and Shelby got some big rebounds when we needed them and it helped to have our home crowd behind us down the stretch," Wilson said of the 1,482 fans in attendance at the annual Food Brings Hope game. "We have a quick turnaround for Florida Southern so back to the drawing board and practice tomorrow morning! 

"I'm happy for Nikki to join the 1000-point club as well. She works hard every day for us and is very deserving of this honor, and she has a whole year left next year to add to that total."

The Eagles are back on the road on Saturday. They travel to Lakeland to take on Florida Southern at 5:30 p.m.