The American University women's basketball team used a 20-1 run early in the second half en route to a 73-47 exhibition game victory over Indiana (Pa.) on Sunday afternoon at Bender Arena. Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by senior Liz Leer, who recorded a game-high 14 points.
American began strong from the opening tip, jumping out to an 8-0 lead in the first four-plus minutes. With the Eagles leading 10-2, an Ashley Yencho feed to Leer pushed AU's advantage to double digits for the first time, a margin the Eagles would maintain for the majority of the first half.
Later in the period, a Leer jumper extended American's lead to 12, 22-10, at the 5:38 mark. IUP would cut AU's lead to seven, 25-18, but the Eagles pushed their advantage back to 10, 32-22, at intermission.
After an Indiana basket to open the second half, which trimmed AU's lead to 32-24, the Eagles scored 20 of the game's next 21 points over an eight-minute span to take a commanding 52-25 lead at the 12:30 mark. AU's spurt began with back-to-back threes from Michelle Kirk and Nicole Ryan, and then a Tori Halvorsen layup gave the Eagles a 40-24 lead. Later, another Kirk jumper was sandwiched by a pair of threes from Ryan and Yencho. Four more Kirk points capped the American run, as American had put the game out of reach.
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IUP was unable to mount a comeback down the stretch, as American maintained at least a 20-point advantage for the remainder of play en route to a 73-47 victory.
Leer led AU with 14 points on five-of-eight shooting from the floor and a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line. Ryan added 11, which included three trifectas, while Kirk and Strack recorded 10 apiece. Strack also registered game-highs with eight rebounds and six assists.
"I thought we did a nice job of sharing the ball," remarked Head Coach Matt Corkery following the game. "As a team, we're trying to move the ball and find the open player. When you do that, you get good, balanced scoring, which is what we were able to do today."
The differences in the game proved to be foul shooting and American's defense. From the charity stripe, the Eagles were 20-22 for 91 percent, while IUP only generated 12 total chances from the line. Additionally, AU held Indiana to a 2-17 clip from three-point range and forced 24 Crimson Hawks' turnovers.
"I think we picked it up in the second half and did a better job of defending," added Corkery. "IUP does a really good job of spreading the floor…and they're really active with a lot of movement. When we got good ball pressure and limited them to one shot, we were more successful in getting stops, which we were able to do more in the second half."
The Eagles will open the 2010-11 regular season when they visit East Carolina on Friday, November 12. Tip time from Greenville, N.C., is scheduled for 5 p.m.
