Game 11  ·  American (7-3, 0-0 PL) vs. Colgate (2-11, 0-2 PL)
Wednesday, January 5  ·  6 p.m. ET  ·  Bender Arena (Washington, D.C.) 
Broadcast Talent: Dan Laing (pxp) and Jody Patrick (analyst)

WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball team (7-3, 0-0 PL) will make its long-awaited Patriot League debut on Wednesday as the Eagles host Colgate (2-11, 0-2 PL) at 6 p.m. in Bender Arena.

UPDATED COVID PROTOCOLS FOR BENDER ARENA

• In response to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in our region, American University Athletics is announcing increased safety measures for events at Bender Arena
• Concessions: Due to health and safety protocols related to COVID-19, concessions will temporarily not be available to patrons for home events at Bender.
• Eagles Club Hospitality Suite: Due to health and safety protocols related to COVID-19, there will be a temporary pause on all Eagles Club Hospitality operations for men's and women's basketball games.
• These measures are in addition to the ones already in place, which include all patrons wearing masks at all times while inside Bender Arena, and proof of vaccination required prior to entering the gym.

BENDER ARENA PARKING ADVISORY

• All those attending events at Bender Arena through January 14, with the exception of commencement on Dec. 18-19, should be prepared to use alternate parking on campus in the Katzen Arts Center on Massachusetts Avenue or the School of International Service (SIS) on Nebraska Avenue.
• The 5th through 7th (roof) levels of the Bender Arena Garage are currently blocked for all vehicular traffic due to repairs. These floors will not be accessible for pedestrian or vehicular traffic during the project.
• Parking in all general areas on campus is free after 5 p.m. and on weekends.
• Find a detailed campus map here (PDF).

THE STARTING FIVE

• American closed the non-conference with at 7-3 (.700) - only one win shy of a new non-conference win record under head coach Megan Gebbia. As it stands, the .700 win percentage since the 2010-11 season when AU came into PL play off a 10-4 (.714) run.
• With the postponement of the nonconference finale at Howard and the first two games of the PL season, AU comes into league play off its 62-58 victory at Longwood on Dec. 18. Taylor Brown paced the Eagles with a career-high 19 points while Jade Edwards and Emily Fisher tied their career bests with five steals and eight assists, respectively.
• American has received votes in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major poll on Dec. 7 and Dec. 14 after hitting a four-game win streak, including the program's first Power Five victory since 2017-18 with a 69-56 win at Virginia on Dec. 7.
• Jade Edwards is staring down her first of two milestones this season as she sits only three rebounds away from the 500th in her career. She is also 32 points from becoming the 20th Eagle in program history to reach 1,000.
• This is the ninth season for head coach Megan Gebbia and her staff, all of whom arrived together in 2013 with the exception of director of operations Nicole Krusen, who joined in 2016. Gebbia has already had a historic career at the helm and will look to add to that this year as she sits seven wins away from becoming in the winningest coach in program history.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS

• Colgate is coming off a six-game home stretch, all of which landed in the loss column for the Raiders including a pair of defeats at the hands of Lafayette, 59-37, and Lehigh, 72-52, to open Patriot League play.
• The last win for Colgate was also its last time away from Cotterell Court. The Raiders outlasted Siena, 56-54, on Dec. 2.
• First-year head coach Ganiyat Adeduntan picked up her first career win on Nov. 13 against UMBC, 61-52.
• Taylor Langan led the team at the start of the season with 10.3 ppg. Since her absence, a pair of freshmen have stepped up with Taylor Golembiewski (9.8 ppg) and Sophia Diehl (9.1 ppg).
• Neither played agains the Mountain Hawks on Sunday, though, and Morgan McMahon and Alexa Brodie filled in with double-figure performances, posting 14 points and 11 points, respectively.
• McMahon also led the team on the boards with six rebounds.
• Tiasia McMillan leads the team with 4.9 rpg and 10 blocks on the season.

SERIES HISTORY vs. COLGATE

• American still holds a dominant 36-7 record against the Raiders after not playing them during the 2020-21 campaign.
• The Eagles were on a 27-game win streak that dated back to the 2006-07 season when they fell in overtime to Colgate, 63-62, in Cotterell Court on Jan. 25, 2020.
• The last time Colgate defeated AU was also in Hamilton on Feb. 10, 2007 (66-53).
• Head coach Megan Gebbia is 13-1 against Colgate since her arrival.

THE LAST TIME WE MET...

• Jade Edwards led the Eagles with 17 points. She is one of two returners who posted double-figures along with Emily Fisher, who put up 10 off the bench.
• Alexa Brodie leads the returners for Colgate - she posted seven points during the win.
• The Raiders had strong first and third quarters, but a 16-11 AU run in the fourth, highlighted by a last-second bucket from Edwards off an inbound play, pushed the game into extra time, 58-58.
• The Eagles were able to gain a brief one-point lead off a pair of Edwards free throws with just over 1:00 left in OT, but a made jumper from Colgate in response but the Raiders back ahead.

#AUWBB vs. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE

• American holds a 200-103 (.660) record in Patriot League play, and an overall record of 257-135 (.657) against Patriot League opponents.
• Included in that are winning records against each team in the conference with the exception of Holy Cross, who has a five-game advantage over the Eagles.
• Head Coach Megan Gebbia has a 92-43 (.681) record in conference play since arriving at AU in 2013-14, and is 13-6 in the Patriot League Tournament, including the program's only two PL titles in 2015 and and 2018. 

THE LAST TIME OUT

• American outlasted a late run to beat Longwood, 62- 58, on Saturday, December 18.
• Senior Taylor Brown led the way with a career-high 19 points. She was one of four to finish in double-figures along with classmates Jade Edwards (15) and Maddie Doring (11), and sophomore Riley DeRubbo with 10 off the bench.
• Edwards tied her career-high with five steals and added a team-high nine rebounds, just missing out on her second double-double of the season.
• Senior Emily Fisher also tied a career-high with eight assists.
• American shot the ball well, finishing with 47.1 percent (24-51) from the floor while holding Longwood to only 40.4 percent (19-47).
• Included in that was a 15-for-26 (.577) performance in the first half to pick up an eight-point lead heading into the locker room - a key margin down the stretch as Longwood hit a 10-0 run early in the third quarter to take a one-point lead.
• A 5-0 run from Edwards to close the third, and a pair of key three's from Brown and Doring early in the fourth put the Eagles back in control and they managed to hold on to the lead until the final buzzer.

SO CLOSE...

• American fell just one game shy of surpassing the non-conference win record under head coach Megan Gebbia.
• The Eagles closed at 7-3 (.700) for the first part of the season after the finale at Howard was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns in Howard's women's basketball program.
• AU has had two seven-win non-conference seasons under head coach Megan Gebbia - 2014-15 and 2017-18. In both, the Eagles entered league play at 7-4, including wins over Power Five programs, and closed the season with Patriot League titles.
• The Eagles picked up their third Power Five win in the Gebbia era this season with a 69-56 win at Virginia on Dec. 7.
• If they had earned an eighth non-conference, it would have been the most wins outside of league play since 2011 (8-6), and the .727 win percentage would have been the best since AU's undefeated run in 1997-98 (10-0).
• As it stands, the Eagles .700 win percentage in the non-conference is the best since 2010-11 (10-4, .714).

SHOOT YOUR SHOT

• American leads the Patriot League and ranks 50th in Division I with its 44.7 percent shooting from the floor.
• The Eagles have put in two games shooting 50 percent or higher so far this season - George Mason (.511) and Radford (.500).
• This is AU's highest shooting percentage in the non-conference slate since Gebbia took the reins in 2013.

MILESTONE WATCH

• Senior Jade Edwards is closing in on a pair of milestones with her 497 career rebounds and 968 career points. 
• With a fifth season still to come, the countdown is also on for adding her name to the program's all-time top-10 lists in both scoring and rebounding. She needs only 255 points and 80 boards to secure her place among the best players in program history.
• Head Coach Megan Gebbia is also approaching a major milestone of her own. With her career record of 144-100, she needs only six wins to reach her 150th victory, and seven to surpass Jeff Thatcher (150-156) as the winningest coach in program history.

NEXT UP
American will be back on the road this weekend with a 1 p.m. tip at Boston University on Saturday before returning to Bender on Wednesday, Jan. 12, with a 6 p.m. start against Holy Cross.

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).