The American University women's basketball team picked up a 76-62 victory over IUP in an exhibition game to open the 2013-14 season.

Three players scored in double-figures for American led by Arron Zimmerman with 14 points. The junior shot 5-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and also led the Eagles with six rebounds. Jen Dumiak and Geleisa George added 10 points apiece. Alexis Dobbs and Dumiak each dished out four assists and Shaquilla Curtis and Ti'Asia McGeorge had two steals. American shot 49.1 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from three-point range for the game.

"I knew it was going to be a slow start because they were so excited and a lot of times when you have a lot of energy that can contribute to some miscues on offense," said Head Coach Megan Gebbia. "We tried to stress that they shouldn't panic. Once they settled down we knew the offense would take care of itself. There are a lot of great shooters on this team so we knew once we settled down the shots would eventually fall for us."

IUP struck first and went up 13-7 early on a lay-up by Ashley Stoner. Zimmerman drained her first triple of the game to cut the Crimson Hawks' lead in half and a trey by McGeorge trimmed the advantage to one, 14-13, with 11:52 to play.

Back-to-back drives from Curtis and Michelle Holmes put the Eagles back within one after an IUP run and Curtis laid in her second bucket of the day to give American its first lead of the afternoon, 25-24, at the 5:52 mark. Curtis knocked it away on the next possession and dished it to Sarah Kiely, who pulled up for the short jumper and the three-point lead. The Crimson Hawks fought back and retook the lead on a three-pointer by Leslie Stapleton but Dobbs answered with a triple of her own to put the Eagles back on top. American closed out the half on a 7-0 run to take a 38-31 advantage into the break.

IUP stormed back to open the second half, posting a 10-0 run for the 41-38 lead and forcing the Eagles to call a timeout. McGeorge entered the game and drained her third three of the day to knot it up at the 17:37 mark. The two teams traded scores and Dobbs knocked down a three to spark an 11-0 run.

A three-pointer by Stapleton made it a five-point contest, 62-57, with 6:44 left to play but a three-point play by Kiely gave American breathing room with the eight-point advantage. The Eagles took a double-digit lead on a triple by Zimmerman with 3:10 to go and closed out the game with four straight points for the 76-62 final score.

The Crimson Hawks had three-double digit scorers with Lindsay Stamp posting a game-high 16 points. Stoner added 13 and Stapleton finished with 11. Stoner also led the field with eight rebounds. IUP shot 40.4 percent from the field and went 6-for-20 from three-point range. The Crimson Hawks outrebounded American 41 to 31 for the game.

The Eagles host another exhibition contest on Wednesday, November 6 at 7 p.m. before opening the regular season in Bender Arena against UMES on Tuesday, November 12 at 7 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on Eagles Vision TV.