WORCESTER, Mass. - The American University women's basketball team (11-6, 4-3 PL) led at the half but couldn't keep pace with Holy Cross' (13-6, 7-1 PL) hot shooting late and fell to the Crusaders, 55-44, on Wednesday.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Senior Jade Edwards and sophomore Emily Johns paced the Eagles with 10 points each. Edwards also led the team with eight rebounds and three steals.
• Senior Emily Fisher was one of three to close with six points and pitched in a team-high four assists.
• The Crusaders were led by another double-double effort from Avery LaBarbera who closed with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Janelle Allen was next with 10 points.
• Oluchi Ezemma added another nine points and 10 boards for Holy Cross.
• AU closed with its lowest shooting percentage of the season, hitting only 26.7 percent (16-60) from the floor while the Crusaders shot 41.5 percent (22-53).
• The Eagles' bench scored 22 to Holy Cross' nine behind the 10 points from Johns and six from freshman Bailey Garbee, who put in a career-high 17 minutes. 
• The Crusaders led in points in the paint, 30-24, and points off turnovers, scoring 18 off AU's 14 miscues while the Eagles added 10 points off Holy Cross' 17 turnovers.
• American had one of its best games on the boards so far this season with 37 while Holy Cross pulled down 40.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Both teams struggled to find footing offensively in the first quarter as Holy Cross picked up a narrow 9-6 lead after back-to-back buckets from LaBarbera sent the Crusaders on a closing 6-0 run.
• American dominated the second quarter, though, shooting 47.1 percent (8-17) while holding Holy Cross to 28.6 percent (4-14). 
• Senior Jade Edwards led the way with all 10 of her points on the night as the Eagles hit a 21-9 run to take a 27-18 lead at the half.
• The Crusaders slowly fought back in the third quarter, though. opening with six unanswered points before senior Taylor Brown sank a layup to retake a five-point lead with just over 6:00 left in the stanza. 
• Holy Cross resumed its run a minute later with a 5-0 response to tie the game at 29-29 at the media break. 
• Garbee and Fisher had the response coming out of the huddle, though, with a quick five points, but the Crusaders had the final say as Allen and LaBarbera combined for seven to take a 36-34 lead into the final 10 minutes.
• The Eagles did not have an answer to the push from Holy Cross in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, as the Crusaders widened the gap to as many as nine. Only Johns was able to get on the scoreboard, picking up a pair of and-one opportunities as she scored all 10 of AU's points to close the game.

NEXT UP...
American returns home on Saturday to host Navy at 2 p.m. before hitting the road next week for back-to-back trips to Lafayette on Tuesday and Colgate on Saturday.

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).