WINTER PARK, Fla. – Career high performances by
Shelby Bischoff and
Madyson Jean-Louis were not enough to push the Embry-Riddle women's basketball team past Mercyhurst as the Eagles fell to the Lakers, 82-77, in overtime in their first game of the Rollins Classic on Saturday. The Eagles are 2-2 on the year, while Mercyhurst moves to 1-4.
Jean-Louis finished with 17 points, while Bischoff tallied 15 points and seven rebounds.
Nikki Tucker led all Eagle players with 22 points to go with five boards and two steals.
Grace Centrulla paced the Lakers with a game-high 33 points and 10 rebounds.
The Eagles shot the basketball well to start the game, going 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) and 5-for-6 (83.3 percent) from long range in the first quarter. The Eagles went on a 7-0 run over last 2:35 of the period to take 25-18 lead.
Embry-Riddle was unable to sustain that shooting performance, managing just five field goals in the second 10 minutes of play. Mercyhurst went on a 9-0 run to start the second quarter which allowed them to overtake Eagles 29-27. The Lakers maintained a slim advantage over the next four minutes, but at the 2:18 mark Tucker grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a layup to put the Eagles back in front 32-31 and they took a 37-36 edge into the halftime break.
The teams matched each other point for point (13-13) in the third quarter, allowing the Eagles to hold on to the one-point lead (50-49) heading into the fourth frame.
The Blue and Gold had a better shooting percentage (45.5 percent, 5-of-11) from the field in the fourth quarter, but Mercyhurst, who was 36.8 percent from the field (7-of-16) made two more field goals than the Eagles and that led to a 66-66 tie at the end of regulation.
The difference in overtime came at the charity stripe. Mercyhurst made 14 trips to the free throw line compared to just six by the Eagles. Although ERAU was perfect in their free throw attempts, they were unable to catch the Lakers who connected on 11 of their free throw attempts to come away with the five-point win.
The Eagles close out play in the Rollins Classic at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday when they take on 18th-ranked Grand Valley State.
The 2021-22 Embry-Riddle women's basketball season is presented by Daytona Mitsubishi.
