WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball team (4-2) picked up its second straight with a gritty second-half victory over UMBC (1-5) on Wednesday, 55-47.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Senior Taylor Brown tied her career-high with 16 points and added a team-high eight rebounds to lead the Eagles. She filled the stat sheet for the first time this season with three assists, one steal, and one block.
• Senior Maddie Doring tied her season-best with nine points alongside five boards and a block.
• The Eagles' bench also put up key numbers, combining for a season-high 20 points behind six each from sophomores Kayla Henning and Emily Johns.
• American pulled off the win despite being held to only 37.3 percent (22-59) from the floor and 66.7 percent (10-15) from the line. 
• AU gave up a season-low 15 turnovers while forcing 25 UMBC miscues. The Retrievers closed shooting 43.2 percent (19-44) from the field and 58.3 percent (7-12) from the line, making this the first time so far this season that the Eagles trailed in field goal percentage.
• The Eagles tied their season-best with 38 points in the paint to 28 from UMBC, and closed one-point shy of their best with 23 points off turnovers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Eagles led early but a 10-1 UMBC run midway through the first quarter pulled the Retrievers to a five-point edge. Although AU struggled from the field in the first 10 minutes, hitting only 3 of 14 from the line, the Eagles were able to pull back within two as seven early UMBC fouls put AU on the line eight times where they added another six points to close the stanza down, 14-12.
• UMBC continued to stretch its lead in the second quarter, taking advantage of another AU scoring drought to pick up its largest lead of the game at 27-20 with just over two minutes left in the half. American had the final say, though, with a couple of clutch baskets from Doring pulling AU back within two at 27-25 heading into the locker room.
• The Eagles dominated in the third quarter with a 17-7 run behind four points from Brown and junior Lauren Stack. 
• Stack tied the game at 27-27 with a layup after a nice feed in from Brown, who added one of her own two minutes later to tie the game again at 29-29 after UMBC picked up another brief lead.
• UMBC hit only one field goal and two free throws in the final eight minutes of the quarter as the Eagles surged to an eight-point advantage behind a last-second floater from Henning and the first career points from freshman Bailey Garbee.
• It was all even down the stretch with both teams hitting 13 in the final 10 minutes. American tied its biggest lead of the game with an eight-point cushion three times before gapping the Retrievers by 10 with another bucket from Brown. 
• UMBC closed the gap to four with 3:38 remaining, but key defensive stops by AU down the stretch kept the Retrievers at arms length as another pair of baskets from Brown and Doring closed the game.

NEXT UP...
The Eagles will close out their three-game home stretch on Sunday with a 6 p.m. tip-off against Radford before hitting the road on Tuesday with a visit to Virginia.

For the latest on American University Women's Basketball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_WBasketball) and Instagram (@auwbasketball).