WASHINGTON - Eight players scored for the American University women's basketball team (12-6, 5-3 PL), including a career-high 20 points from senior Taylor Brown, as the Eagles surged to a 69-60 win over Navy (6-14, 3-7 PL) on Saturday in Bender Arena.

NOTEWORTHY

• Brown went 7-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three, en route to her career-high 20-point performance, just nudging past her previous best of 19 points from earlier in the season.
• Senior Maddie Doring and junior Lauren Stack also picked up new career-highs against the Mids. Doring hit three made trey's during her 19 minutes while Stack brought down eight boards.
• Sophomore Ivy Bales got her first start of the season, fourth of her career, and closed with five points.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Brown led the way with her 20 points followed by 12 from senior Jade Edwards and 10 from senior Emily Fisher. Fisher had a massive performance, stuffing the stat sheet with six boards, seven assists and only one turnover. Edwards added another six assists on the day.
• Navy senior Jennifer Coleman came into the weekend matinee ranked third in Division I with her 14 double-doubles so far this season. Although she added one more to that total on Saturday (19 points, 10 rebounds), the Eagles shut her down in the second half, holding her to only six points and three boards in the final 20 minutes. In her absence, sophomore Sydne Watts stepped up, scoring 13 of her team-high 20 points in the second half.
• The Eagles closed shooting 49 percent (25-51) from the floor and 38.1 percent (8-21) from three. The Midshipmen trailed shooting 42.6 percent (23-54) from the floor and 22.2 percent (4-18) from the perimeter.
• The Eagles' bench once again dominated, scoring 16 points behind nine from Doring, while the Mids posted only seven. The two teams were even in the paint, 28-28, but Navy capitalized off AU's 13 miscues, scoring 17 points off turnovers while the Eagles picked up 13 points off the Mids' 14 lost possessions. Navy also led in fast break points, 6-2.
• AU narrowly trailed the Mids on the boards, 30-29, with Navy adding another six points off second chance opportunities to five from American.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Mids jumped to an early lead after posting four unanswered points in their first two possessions of the day. A couple of well-timed buckets from Edwards and Stack kept it a two-possession game until the final three minutes when back-to-back baskets from Coleman and Watts built a 10-point gape, 16-6.
• A clutch three from Bales ended the Eagles' drought, and Edwards added a brace off the line in the final 30 seconds to cut Navy's lead back down to five at 16-11 by the break.
• American had looks early on in the second quarter but sophomores Emily Johns and Riley DeRubbo were the only ones to keep the Eagles within striking distance, closing the gap to three then again to five after a couple of Navy baskets rebuilt a seven-point gap. 
• Coleman drained a quick layup after the media timeout to bring the score to 27-18, but it was all America in the final 3:30 as a 7-0 solo run from Brown sent the Eagles in the locker room trailing by four at 29-25.
• AU came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, holding Navy to only two made field goals in the opening minutes of the second half to tie the game at 34-34. The lead changed hands five times over the next three minutes with the two teams trading baskets before a pair of three's from Brown and Doring gave the Eagles a three-point edge. Coleman cut that lead back down to two off the line but a transition two from Brown in the final second sent AU into the fourth quarter with a 45-41 advantage.
• Navy continued to battle back in the final 10 minutes, tying the game two times, but clutch buckets from Brown and Bales pulled the Eagles back ahead. 
• Fisher hit a quick layup after the final timeout of the game, sparking a 7-0 closing AU run to secure the nine-point win.

NEXT UP
American is on the road next week, traveling to Lafayette on Tuesday and Colgate on Saturday. The Eagles then return to Bender for a two-game home stretch as they look for some redemption against Bucknell (February 9) and Boston University (Feb. 12).

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).