HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team suffered a tough loss in its first game at the Hoops in Hawaii Holiday Classic, falling to Cedarville 72-60 on Friday at the Shark Tank on the campus of Hawaii Pacific University.
The Eagles won the first and third quarters, but the Yellow Jackets put up big numbers in the other two frames to improve their record to 6-3, while the Eagles fall to 3-6 with the loss.
ERAU was the better team over the first two minutes of play, opening the game with a five-point (9-4) advantage. Cedarville quickly closed the gap and led by three (19-16) with 56 seconds left in the quarter. At the three-second mark,
Nikki Tucker drove to the basket and made a layup but was fouled in the process. Tucker missed the free throw, but
Shelby Bischoff raced in for the rebound and hit a layup at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 20-19 edge.
Shooting 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from the field, including a 4-of-7 clip from behind the three-point line, the Yellow Jackets outscored the Eagles 25-13 in the second frame and led 44-33 at the half.
In the third period, the Eagle defense held Cedarville to just six points. After Paige Garr scored a bucket to extend the Cedarville lead to 13 (46-33) the Eagles went on an 9-0 run and with 6:17 left in the quarter, the Yellow Jacket lead had dwindled to four points (46-42). Over the next 3:30, neither team was able to score. Cedarville scored on back-to-back possessions, but the Eagles answered with a
Madyson Jean-Louis three-pointer and heading into the final frame Cedarville's lead was five points (50-45).
The first points of the fourth quarter came in the form of an
Eva Zaragoza jump shot at the 7:37 mark that cut the Yellow Jacket advantage to three (50-47). Neither team shot the ball well for the remainder of the contest, with ERAU connecting on just three of their 14 field goal attempts and Cedarville shooting just 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from the field. But the Yellow Jackets bested the Eagles 3-1 in three-pointers and closed out the game shooting 11-of-12 from the free throw line in the final 10 minutes to come away with the win.
Three players scored in double-figures for the Eagles, led by
Liz Behan who recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. Tucker added 13 points and six boards, and Bischoff chipped in 10 points to go with six rebounds and four assists.
Emily Chapman led all players with 30 points to lead Cedarville in the win.
The Eagles close out play in the Hoops in Hawaii Holiday Classic at 3:30 p.m. HST (8:30 p.m. EST) on Saturday against Northwest Indian College.
The Embry-Riddle women's basketball season is presented by Daytona Mitsubishi.
