WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball team put up a dominant fourth quarter on Sunday to deliver their second series sweep over Loyola Maryland this season, 62-52.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The pairing of juniors Jade Edwards and Taylor Brown highlighted the day for the Eagles. Edwards picked up her third double-double of the season, ninth of her career, with a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. But Brown was the story of the weekend, as she closed with her second-consecutive career-high, scoring 16 points while stuffing the stat sheet with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
• Junior Emily Fisher also closed out an impressive weekend after not playing since January 16. She opened with a season-high 10 points on Saturday and bested that performance on Sunday with a dozen along with four assists and three rebounds.
• The Greyhounds were led by a 16-point performance from Isabella Therien before she fouled out of the game with 1:40 remaining. Therien also added a double-double on the day with 10 boards.
• AU closed with its third-best performance from the floor this season, shooting 47.8 percent (22-46) while dominating the paint, 30-18. The Eagles also went 35.3 percent from three (6-17) and 75 percent (12-16) from the line.
• The Greyhounds, on the other hand, were held to only 33.3 percent from the field (18-54) and 36.8 percent from three (7-19). Loyola entered the weekend shooting 77.3 percent from the charity stripe, but hit only 56.3 percent (9-16) on Sunday.
• Although Loyola dominated the offensive boards, 12-5, and in second chance opportunities, 15-4, the Eagles trailed by only one overall with 29 rebounds.
• American also gave up 14 miscues to Loyola's 10, and were held to a season-low five points off turnovers while the Greyhounds picked up 18.
• First Quarter ... Both teams were a little slow to start after the quick turnaround from Saturday's game, with the Greyhounds taking a brief three-point lead after their third offensive board midway through the stanza, 9-6. Brown added her first points of the day heading into the media timeout, and the Eagles continued the run coming out of the huddle with four unanswered points to take a 12-9 lead. Loyola jumped ahead by the end of the quarter, though, after a final jumper from Laryn Edwards sent the teams into the break at 14-12.
• Second Quarter ... The Eagles got into some foul trouble early in the stanza after Therien drew two from sophomore Lauren Stack and another from Vres. AU still pulled ahead after a quick layup from Brown sent the team on a 9-0 run to take a 21-14 lead. Of those nine points, six were courtesy of Brown who closed the half with a game-high 10 points off 5-for-6 shooting from the floor. The Greyhounds cut the lead down to two, but were unable to tie the game and a pair of free throws from Edwards sent the teams into the locker room with the Eagles leading, 30-26.
• Third Quarter ... Loyola fought its way back early in the second half with a three from Delaney Connolly tying the game at 34-34 before another trey, this time from Therien, gave the Greyhounds their first lead since the end of the first quarter. Edwards responded with a clutch three of her own to knot the score once again, but Loyola pulled back ahead and maintained the advantage, despite a last-second long range make from Fisher to close the quarter at 41-40.
• Fourth Quarter ... It was all AU down the stretch, as the Eagles dominated the final 10 minutes, 22-11. Loyola seemed to have the momentum early, though, until a clutch block from Sanders with 7:41 put the Greyhounds on their heels. American hit a 12-3 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to retake a seven-point lead at 54-47, including back-to-back three's from Edwards and Vres who stayed on the court despite picking up her fourth foul early in the stanza. With 1:40 left on the clock, Therien fouled out of the game for Loyola and the Eagles closed the game shooting 6-for-7 from the line to end with the 10-point victory.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH MEGAN GEBBIA...
"I thought our starters came ready to play today. It seemed like they were a little bit more focused. I thought our defense in the first half was a little suspect in the sense of not being aggressive, and we've been working on being a little bit tighter and forcing turnovers more and things like that, and I thought eventually we got there closer to the second half. But it was nice to have three people in double-digits. The scoring was really just spread through the starting five, honestly, and it was enough to win today. But it was a career-high for Taylor Brown which is really cool, and then obviously Jade with the double-double, and it's nice to have [Emily Fisher] back running the point and being able to handle the pressure that they were trying to provide on us. 

"And what was nice was that that wasn't ever an issue for us, we were just turning the ball over against half-court stuff. And we talked to Jade at halftime, you know she had five turnovers at the half, and said that you can't be doing that against this type of pressure in the half court, and she kind of changed it which was nice to see. But overall, it was a good win and it just seemed like we gained confidence as the game went on. And, again any time you're trying to play a team multiple times, they shut different things down and you have to find different ways to score. This group did a nice job of that today. We made a couple of adjustments on offense, and they were able to make those which was nice, and then finish. 

"I just thought Taylor Brown had an excellent game overall from scoring, rebounding, just things like that."

NEXT UP...

• American will return to Bender Arena on Wednesday, February 24, for a 6 p.m. tip against Navy.

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).