DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Senior
Keturah Balabyekkubo had one of the best performances of her career on her final night wearing the Blue and Gold at the ICI Center. The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team was unable to come away with a win, however, as the Eagles were edged by Rollins 79-77 in the final home game of the season.
The Eagles are now 12-13 overall and 7-12 in Sunshine State Conference play, while the Tars improved to 9-17 and 4-15 in the league.
Playing 36 minutes for ERAU, Balabyekkubo scored a career-best 22 points to go with eight rebounds, a career-high seven assists and two steals.
Sydney Jones tallied 12 points for ERAU, while
Rachel Murray added 10 points and five assists.
The Tars opened the game on a 4-0 run and did not relinquish the lead in the first half. The Tars bested the Eagles on the boards in the first 10 minutes, outrebounding ERAU 13-8. The rebounding discrepancy was most noticeable on the offensive end of the court where Rollins converted seven offensive boards into 11 second chance points on the way to a 24-17 lead.
At the start of a second quarter that saw the Eagles match the Tars with 21 points, the visitors used a Aaliy Irizarry-Perez three to widen the lead to 27-17. After misses by both sides, Balabyekkubo answered with a three of her own and that started a 7-2 run that cut the lead to five (29-24) at the 7:17 mark. Rollins was able to build the lead back up to 10 (35-25), but once again a Balabyekkubo basket triggered an Eagle run and over the next 90 seconds, the Eagles chipped away at the lead, making it a one-point (35-34) game with 3:11 left in the half. The Eagles were unable to make further inroads, however, as the Tars closed out the quarter on a 10-4 run to maintain the seven-point (45-38) margin at the half.
Much like the second quarter, the third period started with Rollins increasing its advantage and the Eagles closing the gap. While the Eagles did better than the Tars on the offensive boards with five second chance points compared to none by Rollins, they were unable to gain an advantage in the scoring column. Both teams scored 15 points each and heading into the final frame the Rollins lead was still seven (60-53).
After Irizarry-Perez made two free throws to start the fourth, Balabyekkubo countered with a layup to make it 62-55 at the 8:48 mark. Four minutes later, the Rollins lead was down to one as
Madyson Jean-Louis hit a pair of free throws to make the score 66-65. Two quick threes made it a six-point game for the Tars, but the Eagles continued to battle and with 1:39 remaining, Murray hit a trey to give the Eagles their first lead (72-71) of the night. Rollins used a layup and a free throw to go back up by two, but Jean-Louis made two more from the charity stripe to tie the game at 74-74 with 55 seconds left.
Sarah Napoli appeared to have a steal on the Tars' next possession and two more free throws gave Rollins a two-point advantage. The Eagles were unable to connect on either of their next two field goal attempts and after winning the rebound, the Tars extended the lead to 79-74 from the free throw line.
In the first meeting of the season between the Eagles and the Tars on Nov. 19, an Eagle buzzer-beater was the difference in that game. Wednesday's game featured another shot at the buzzer for the Eagles as
Kailey Turpening's three-point went through the net as time expired, ending the game with the two-point win for Rollins.
The Eagles close out regular season play on Saturday when they travel to Fort Lauderdale for a 2 p.m. tip against Nova Southeastern.
The 2022-23 Embry-Riddle women's basketball season is presented by Daytona Mitsubishi.
