LAKELAND, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team put forth a valiant effort against Florida Southern on Wednesday evening. But the bid fell just short as the Eagles suffered a tough loss to the No. 2 team in the Sunshine State Conference, 55-53. The Eagles are now tied with Lynn for seventh in the league standings with a 9-10 record and are 11-13 overall. Florida Southern extended its winning streak to 10 games and are 18-8 overall and 16-4 in the SSC.
The game was tightly contested for three of the four quarters with Embry-Riddle winning three frames. However, turnovers in the second quarter and late in the contest proved to be the Eagles' undoing.
The Eagles shot the ball well to start the game, going 7-of-14 from the field in the first 10 minutes. The Eagles got six first half points on 3-for-3 shooting from
Macee Sugrue and at the end of the first quarter, the Blue and Gold led 14-10.
Florida Southern controlled the second quarter. The Lady Mocs had five more field goal attempts than the Eagles, which was due in part to seven Eagle turnovers. FSC converted those turnovers into nine points and, after outscoring ERAU 18-10, the home team led by four (28-24) at the half.
A highly competitive third quarter saw the Eagles use a 7-4 scoring run to cut the FSC lead to three (34-31). ERAU was able to make it one-point game and despite being outscored 16-15, the Lady Mocs were able to cling to a three-point lead (43-40) heading into the final quarter.
Liz Behan opened the fourth period with a three-point play and following a 1-of-2 effort at the free throw line by the Lady Mocs,
Nikki Tucker found
Madyson Jean-Louis to give the Eagles their first lead since the first quarter. ERAU widened the gap to four points and still had that cushion courtesy of another Behan layup with 2:30 remaining.
Behan's bucket turned out to the be last of the game for the Eagles. ERAU had chances to score after pulling down defensive rebounds on FSC misses. But four turnovers in the last 1:50 robbed the Eagles of the opportunity to add to their tally, and the Lady Mocs turned those miscues into four points, including a Sara Wohglemuth score with three seconds left that won the game.
Behan was the leading scorer for the Eagles with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Sugrue added 11 points and four rebounds, and Jean-Louis chipped in 10 points and six rebounds. Tucker lead all players with nine boards.
Wohglemuth was the game's leading scorer with 16 points.
The Eagles will close out regular season play on Saturday, hosting Nova Southeastern at the ICI Center. Saturday will also be Senior Night for
Nikki Tucker,
Shelby Bischoff and
Macee Sugrue.
The 2021-22 Embry-Riddle women's basketball season is presented by Daytona Mitsubishi.
