DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team suffered another setback in Sunshine State Conference play on Saturday when the fell to Florida Southern 72-67 at the ICI Center. Things looked promising for the Eagles who held a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but they were unable to hold on the advantage as a late run propelled the Moccasins (8-6, 4-3) to their fourth conference win of the year.
Embry-Riddle is now 7-6 overall and 2-5 in league play.
The Eagles got off to an incredible start in Saturday's game going 10-for-10 from the field, including a 3-for-3 clip from beyond the arc, in the first eight minutes. The Eagles were 80 percent (12-of-15) from the field in the first frame and
Madyson Jean-Louis' nine points on 4-for-4 shooting helped the Blue and Gold build a 10-point lead before taking a 28-21 advantage into the second quarter.
The second 10 minutes featured back-and-forth action and a very different shooting performance for the Eagles. Back-to-back baskets by the Lady Mocs helped the visitors pull within two (38-20), and at the 5:13 mark, Sydney Gomes' layup gave Florida Southern its first lead of the game. Despite shooting just 33.3 percent (5-for-15) from the field in the second period, the Eagles were able to reclaim the lead and a pair of jumpers by
Jenna Teterycz, as well as a steal and a fastbreak layup by
Keturah Balabyekkubo in the last 1:50 gave ERAU a 40-35 lead at the half.
The third quarter featured another solid shooting performance for the Eagles who were 9-of-14 from the field in that frame. ERAU opened the quarter on an 8-4 run to widen the gap to 49-39. The lead was still 10 (51-41) after a
Kailey Turpening layup, but Sydney Gomes hit a three and a jumper to make it a five-point (51-46) game. The Eagles had an answer, however, and heading into the fourth, they led 59-49.
Whatever momentum the Eagles had quickly disappeared at the start of the fourth quarter. Domenica Zamora started the Florida Southern run with three consecutive threes and an Ashley Shell layup gave the Moccasins their first lead (60-59) since the second quarter at the 7:57 mark. After shooting 59 percent (26-of-44) through the first three quarters, the Eagles were just 4-of-15 in the final 10 minutes of play.
Trailing by five (68-63) with 1:43 left to the play, the Eagles got a layup from Jean-Louis and a steal and a layup from
Mary Lengemann to cut the FSC lead to one (68-67) with 36 seconds remaining. Following a pair of Zamora free throws, the Eagles got the ball back with 33 seconds to play but were unable to get a good look at the basket and Zamora made two more free throws to seal the win.
Jean-Louis and Balabyekkubo combined for 35 points with Jean-Louis matching her career-high 18 points and Balabyekkubo tallying 17 points.
The Eagles will begin a two-game road swing on Wednesday when they travel to Melbourne, Florida to take on Florida Tech at 5:30 p.m.
The 2022-23 Embry-Riddle women's basketball season is presented by Daytona Mitsubishi.
