The American University women's basketball team opened its season with a 76-69 victory over UMES on Tuesday night in Bender Arena, helping Head Coach Megan Gebbia to her first career win in her coaching debut.

Four players reached double-figures for American (1-0) in the season opener. Alexis Dobbs matched her career mark with 21 points, going 7-for-10 from the floor with three triples, and Lauren Crisler and Arron Zimmerman notched 11 points apiece. Sarah Kiely and Jen Dumiak matched their career-highs with a team-best 12 and 10 rebounds, respectively. Dumiak also dished out eight assists for the Eagles while Dobbs added five helpers with three steals.

"It feels good to get this first win," said Coach Gebbia following the game. "I give all the credit to the players, they really played the scout well I thought for the most part and they executed the game plan."

The two teams went back-and-forth early with Dobbs hitting her first trey of the game to put American up 13-9 at the 14:45 mark. The Eagles went up five, 20-15, with 9:46 left in the first half on a lay-up by Crisler off the dish from Geleisa George. UMES knotted it up at 20-all on a triple by Jessica Long but American answered with six straight tallies to retake the lead. The Eagles began to find its rhythm by the end of the half and went into the break on the back of a 10-2 run as Ti'Asia McGeorge and Dobbs drained consecutive triples for the 38-27 advantage at the intermission.

American continued its momentum in the second half as Zimmerman opened the scoring with a three on the feed from Dumiak. After a three-point play by Long cut the Eagles' lead to 13 at the 17:34 mark, Dobbs responded with a trey off the dish from Zimmerman and Dobbs returned the favor, feeding it to Zimmerman who laid it in to give American the 48-30 lead.

UMES (0-2) tried to chip away at the Eagles' advantage. Taylor Thompson and TeAmber Burke drained triples but Crisler had the answer from American, hitting one of her own to put the team back up 53-36 with 12:02 to go. The Hawks continued to battle back, cutting American's lead to 10, 60-50, on a 12-3 run with 5:55 to play. The Eagles went back up 15 on another three-pointer by Crisler but UMES fought back within 10 again as Burke added a trey and knocked it away on the next possession, dishing it to Long to cut American's lead to 71-61 with 1:38 left in the game. The Hawks tried to rally down the stretch, but Dobbs and Dumiak combined to make 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to secure the 76-69 win.

The Eagles finished the night shooting 36.2 percent from the floor, going 10-for-24 from three-point range. UMES shot 37.9 percent from the field in the game, sinking 10-of-30 attempts from beyond the arc.

Long and Burke led the Hawks with 28 and 23 points, respectively, while Alexis Udoji posted nine boards, six blocks and three steals.

American returns to Bender Arena on Sunday, November 17 at 1 p.m. when it hosts Massachusetts. The game will be broadcast live on Eagles Vision TV.