Nov. 30, 2008

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball team extended its home winning streak to three games after knocking off Cleveland State, 77-59, at Bender Arena on Sunday. The Eagles had four players tally in double digits as they moved back above the .500 mark on the season.

The Eagles held a 9-6 lead early in the first half, courtesy of six Liz Leer points and a Talicia Jackson three as both sides struggled to get good looks at the basket in the opening minutes. Kristin Coles scored her first basket of the game at 12:25 for AU and was fouled on the play. Coles connected on the and-one and extended the Eagles lead to 12-8. Jessica Roque answered for the Vikings, hitting a three on the other end to cut the lead to one, but Ebony Edwards knocked down a three of her own to give the Eagles a 15-11 advantage.

American(4-3) led 24-15 after a three-point play from Michelle Kirk, but CSU was able to match the three on the other end on an Angel Roque three, putting the Eagles lead at 24-16 with 7:50 left in the half. The Vikings embarked on a 7-0 lead over the next two and a half minutes to pull within one, 24-23, before a foul sent the Eagles' Kirk to the line to shoot two. Kirk went 2-of-2 from the stripe but Angel Roque hit two shots on a one-and -one situation before an AU turnover translated into a Shawnita Garland lay-up, giving CSU a 27-26 lead with five minutes to play in the first.

Cleveland State (3-3) opened up a six point lead with 2:45 on the clock and would maintain it over the next minute before Janelle McDonald scored her first points of the afternoon for the Eagles, to put the score at 36-32. Kirk and Nicole Ryan hit back-to-back baskets in the final 30 seconds to knot the game up at 36-all, giving the Vikings the ball with 16 seconds left in the half. An Ebony Edwards steal resulted in a CSU foul, sending Ryan to the line with 4 seconds left. Ryan knocked down 1-of-2 to send the Eagles up one, 37-36, at the half.

American held on to its one-point lead (41-40) five minutes into the second half before CSU's Kailey Klein would put the Vikings up one. Angel Roque hit her third three of the day with 13:25 left in regulation to extend the CSU lead to 45-41. The Eagles would go on to score the next four points to tie it up at 45.

Lisa Strack hit four free throws and Ryan hit three straight treys to combine for the next 13 Eagles points to give AU a 58-50 lead with 6:52 left to play. The Eagles build a 14-point lead following a Leer basket with just over two minutes left to play. CSU pushed its offense the rest of the game, but could not close the gap, giving AU a 77-59 win and ending its three-game losing skid.

"A big key to the win today was that we continued to press and were able to turn steals into easy baskets and maked a run," said AU head coach Matt Corkery. "We took control of the game in the final five minutes and I thought we had good patience offensively for the majority of the second half and took good shots. We got to the free throw line 26 times and picked up 19 offensive rebounds and that made a difference in the outcome of the game."

Ryan led the Eagles in scoring with 16 points, marking the sixth game this season that saw her tally in double-digits. Michelle Kirk added 15 points and hit 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. Leer finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Jackson rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points and also chipped in seven boards. Pam Stanfield had eight assists in the win and also picked up seven rebounds.

Klein led Cleveland State and all scorers with 23 points. Angel Roque added 13 points, while Stephanie Crosley picked up a game-high 10 rebounds.

American has a quick turn-around and will resume action on Tuesday at University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at 6 p.m.