WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball (11-5, 4-2 PL) eked out its second consecutive win at home on Saturday with a 53-49 win over Loyola Maryland (3-14, 0-7 PL).

BY THE NUMBERS

• Eight players scored to lead the Eagles to victory, starting with a dozen points from sophomore Emily Johns, falling just short of tying her career high (13).
• Seniors Jade Edwards and Taylor Brown added nine points each with Edwards also adding a team-high seven rebounds.
• Senior Emily Fisher tied her career-high with eight assists and for the second time this season failed to give up a single turnover.
• The Greyhounds were led by a double-double effort from freshman Lex Therien, who closed the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Bri Rozzi added 13 more along with a team-high four assists.
• The Eagles closed shooting 41.7 percent (20-48) from the floor and 23.5 percent (4-17) from three. The Greyhounds trailed closely shooting 40.4 percent (19-47) from the floor and were held to only 14.3 percent (1-7) from the perimeter.
• American led in points off turnovers, scoring 20 off Loyola's 22 miscues. The Eagles also dominated in bench points, 20-6, while the Greyhounds had the edge in the paint, 30-28.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• American came into the weekend match-up off an 80-65 win over Army West Point on Wednesday but struggled to build that comfortable cushion again as the Eagles went back-and-forth with Loyola 10 times and had eight ties throughout the afternoon.
• AU picked up a five-point lead midway through the first quarter after back-to-back plays from senior Maddie Doring. The guard threw up the corner three for her first points of the day then picked up the steal on the other end and pitched it to Edwards for the easy bucket to take a 7-2 lead.
• It was a one-possession game by the end of the quarter, though, after a layup from Therien sent the teams to their benches at 9-6.
• Early baskets from Johns in the second quarter rebuilt the five-point advantage for American, but it was short lived as unanswered baskets from Therien and Rozzi brought Loyola back within one at 13-12 by the media timeout.
• Loyola continued to push out of the huddle with a Rozzi three to tie the game at 15-15. The Greyhounds closed the half with a 9-4 run to take a two-point lead into the locker room, 21-19.
• It was a battle in the third quarter as the two teams matched each other punch-for-punch throughout the first eight minutes. The lead switched hands nine times before a clutch three from sophomore Riley DeRubbo sent the Eagles on a 9-2 run in the final two minutes of the stanza to take their largest lead of the game at 40-33.
• American continued to hold on to the lead in the fourth despite Loyola cutting the lead back down to two in the final 30 seconds. For every Loyola push, AU had a response as DeRubbo added another three to the day and senior Taylor Brown added five more to keep the Greyhounds at arms length.

NEXT UP
American is back on the road next week with a 5 p.m. tip at Holy Cross on Wednesday before returning to Bender to host Navy at 2 p.m.

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).