TAMPA, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team gave No. 1 seed Tampa all the Spartans could handle, but a late run lifted Tampa to a 62-52 win over the eighth-seeded Eagles in the quarterfinal round of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament on Saturday.
 
With the loss, the Eagles' 2021-22 campaign comes to an end with an 11-15 overall record.
 
The Spartans, ranked 18th in the latest WBCA NCAA II Coaches' Poll, move to 27-5 overall and will face Barry in the tournament semis on Thursday.
 
Monday's game was close for most of the 40 minutes of play with neither team leading by more than five points for the majority of the contest. The numbers on the stats sheet were reflective of how tightly contested the game was as ERAU shot 40.8 percent from the field compared to a 40.4 percent clip by Tampa, and the Spartans had a 29-28 edge on the boards. Perhaps the biggest discrepancy of the game was at the free throw line where the Eagles went 4-for-5, while the Spartans had almost five times more free throw opportunities, going 13-for-18 at the charity stripe.
 
The Eagles had four players score 10 points or more, led by 13 from Macee Sugrue, 12 from Nikki Tucker and 10 points each from Liz Behan and Eva Zaragoza.
 
Tuesday's game got off to a slow start and at the end of a low-scoring first quarter, the Spartans held a slim 8-7 edge.
 
The Spartans went on a 4-0 spurt to start the second period, but a hot-shooting Zaragoza drilled a pair of threes to key an 11-4 Eagle run that put the visitors ahead 20-16 with 2:48 left in the half. The Spartans were able to move back in front by one (23-22) with 34 seconds remaining, but Tucker's layup with 17 seconds left gave the Eagles a 24-23 advantage heading into halftime break.
 
As was the case in the second quarter, it was the Spartans who went on a run to start the third. Tampa scored six unanswered points to reclaim a five-point advantage (29-24) just under a minute into the frame. The Eagles were undaunted, however, and put together a 16-2 run over the next six minutes top open a nine-point (40-31) lead over the favorites.
 
The Spartans showed why they're regarding as one of the best teams in the country as they had an answer for the Eagle run. Heading into the fourth, ERAU lead was trimmed to one (40-39).
 
Getting to the free throw line was key in the Spartans success in the fourth. Although the Eagles were perfect in both of their free attempts, the effort was no match for Tampa's 10-of-13 makes from the charity stripe. With 1:07 left in the contest, the Tampa lead was just two points (54-52). An Eagle foul sent Mya Giusto to the free throw line to shoot two. Giusto missed on her second attempt, but a heads-up play by Tampa secured the offensive rebound and the Spartans were able to the ball back to Giusto who hit a three to make it a six-point (58-52) game with 46 seconds left.
 
The Eagles were unable to convert on their offensive opportunities and the Spartans made each of their last four free throws to pull out the win.