DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team was unable to overcome a low-scoring first half in their Sunshine State Conference game against Florida Southern at the ICI Center on Wednesday. The short-handed Eagles totaled just 13 first-half points en route to their third conference loss of the season, falling to the Lady Mocs 63-44.
The Eagles (5-7, 3-3 SSC), who ranked third in the league in field goal percentage and three-point shooting going into Wednesday's game, were just 35 percent (17-of-48) from the field and 2-of-17 from long range. A bright spot for the Eagles was at the free throw line where they exceeded their season average of 70 percent with an 80-percent (8-of-10) shooting clip from the charity stripe.
Keturah Balabyekkubo scored the first four points of the game to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead early in the contest. After the sophomore's layup at the 7:01 mark, the Eagle offense went quiet and the Lady Mocs used a 19-4 run over the last 4:58 of the quarter to open up a 21-8 lead.
After nearly four minutes of scoreless play for both teams to start the second quarter, Balabyekkubo scored again for the Eagles and another basket by
Madyson Jean-Louis kept the margin at 11 (23-12). The second half of the second quarter yielded no fruit for the Eagles, however, as they managed just one point over the last 4:47 which allowed Florida Southern to extend its lead to 37-13 at the half.
The Eagles turned things around in the second half outscoring the visitors 31-26 in the last 20 minutes of action. ERAU ended the game on a 13-6 run, but the first-half deficit was too much to overcome as Florida Southern improved to 6-6 overall and 4-2 in league play with the win.
Balabyekkubo, Jean-Louis and
Nikki Tucker finished with eight points each, while
Shelby Bischoff and
Eva Zaragoza each had season-best rebounding nights with seven boards apiece.
Julia Jenike was the game's high scorer with 20 points for the Lady Mocs.
The Eagles will look to bounce back on Saturday when they host Barry at 4 p.m. at the ICI Center
The 2021-22 Embry-Riddle women's basketball season is presented by Daytona Mitsubishi.
