CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The American University women's basketball team (6-2) led nearly wire-to-wire to take the 69-56 thriller over Virginia (3-7) in Charlottesville on Tuesday,

NOTEWORTHY

• This is the program's first victory at a Power Five school since 1998 and the first win against Virginia since 1996 when the Eagles toppled the Cavaliers, 69-67, in Bender Arena.
• This is also the team's first win over a Power Five school since 2017 when AU closed the nonconference slate with an overtime thriller against Penn State, 75-66, before going 16-2 in Patriot League play en route to the PL title.
• Senior Jade Edwards was one point shy of earning the program's first triple-double, posting 10 assists and 11 rebounds.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Five players closed in double-figures starting with a dozen from senior Emily Fisher and sophomore Riley DeRubbo.
• Senior Taylor Brown and sophomore Emily Johns added 11 each while senior Maddie Doring closed with 10.
• For the second consecutive game the bench came up big for the Eagles, putting up 25 points behind a combined 23 from DeRubbo and Johns.
• American trailed Virginia by only one rebound, 32-31, and gave up 21 turnovers to the Cavaliers' 18. Virginia led in points off miscues, 25-9, second chance points, 14-3, and points in the paint, 34-22.
• The Eagles lit it up from the perimeter, though, shooting a season-high 58.8 percent (10-17) from three while the Cavaliers hit only 1 of 11. American entered the week shooting 23.4 percent from long range and averaging only 3.7 made three's per game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Brown got it rolling early for the Eagles, sinking the first three of the night during the first possession to give AU the early lead. Both teams struggled to get on the board over the next three minutes before Doring sank a three of her own to end the drought.
• Virginia added back-to-back baskets to pull back within one at the media timeout, then put away a pair of free throws to take their first and only lead of the game at 9-8 with less than 2:30 left in the first.
• It was all AU down the stretch to close the stanza as the Eagles hit a 8-2 run behind another pair of treys from Fisher and DeRubbo to take a 17-11 lead heading into the break.
• Freshman Kayla Henning continued the run in the second quarter with a pair of points before the Eagles hit another scoring drought. Virginia cut back within four with a pair of baskets from Kaydan Lawson and Taylor Valladay but once again it was Doring who got AU rolling again with a fast break layup after an Edwards steal on the other end. She added her second three of the night less than a minute later to rebuild a nine-point lead going into the media timeout.
• A floating jumper from Brown delivered AU its largest lead of the half at 19-29 with 1:40 left but Virginia got the final say with three points in the final seconds to bring the score to 29-22 heading into the locker rooms.
• The Eagles led by as many as seven in the early minutes of the third quarter but Virginia began to chip away at the lead, hitting an 8-1 run to make it a one-possession game before DeRubbo responded with a clutch three to hold the Cavaliers at bay.
• A pair of baskets from Johns sent American on an 11-0 run to take the largest lead of the game at 51-36 before another last-second Virginia bucket cut it back down to 13 at the end of the quarter.
• The Eagles were held to only 4 of 11 in the final 10 minutes while Virginia hit seven from the field, but late fouls put the Eagles on the line where they put away 8 of 10 to hold on to the 13-point advantage.

UP NEXT
American will close its home nonconference schedule on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tip against Towson.

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