WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball had a dominant showing in Bender Arena on Tuesday, outpacing Lehigh 64-45 in a game that could have massive implications in the postseason. The Eagles and Mountain Hawks will be back in Bender Arena at 7 p.m. on Wednesday for AU's Play4Kay pink out.

PLAY4KAY

• Wednesday evening's game will also serve as the team's annual Play4Kay game in support of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Fans are asked to join both teams in wearing PINK in support of cancer research and the fight against ALL cancers involving women.
• On December 3, 2022, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund will celebrate its 15th anniversary. Since its inception, the fund has awarded $7.78 million to support scientific research and programs that serve the underserved in the fight against ALL cancers involving women. 
• Olympic gold medal-winning and Naismith Hall of Fame coach, Kay Yow, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and passed away on January 24, 2009. Coach Yow did not lose her battle to cancer. She simply turned the battle over to all of us.
• As a result of her own 22-year battle with cancer, Coach Yow founded the Kay Yow Cancer Fund to give hope to others who also found themselves in a similar battle. 
• For more information, please visit kayyow.com. 

NOTEWORTHY

• American's defense stepped up in a big way, holding a Lehigh team who entered the game ranked fourth in Division I with 10.1 made three's per game, to only five on the day. The Mountain Hawks' 45 points ties for their lowest output of the season alongside the loss to Bucknell on January 12.
• The Eagles, on the other hand, had one of its best offensive outputs of the season. Despite resting their key players down the stretch, their 19-point victory is a new season-high, besting the 15-point win over Army West Point on January 19. Their 23 points in the first quarter and 37 in the first half also ranks among the top single-quarter and single-half performances of the year.
• This win continues AU's home court dominance - the Eagles are now 11-1 in Bender Arena this season, including an undefeated 8-0 run in conference play. This ties for 19th in Division I for active home win streaks while AU's .917 home win percentage puts the team at 31st in the country.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Senior Emily Fisher continued her string of clutch performances for the Eagles, leading the team with a dozen points and six assists. She also added a steal and a block on the day while giving up only one turnover.
• Senior Jade Edwards narrowly missed the double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds, followed by classmate Maddie Doring with 10 points including a pair of three's.
• The sophomore class also continues to step up for the Eagles. Ivy Bales added nine points and eight rebounds in her seventh start of the season. Emily Johns also picked up nine points off the bench along with a pair of blocks.
• Lehigh was led by a 12-point effort from Mackenzie Kramer. One of the top perimeter shooters in the country with 3.4 made three's per game, she was held to only 2 of 6 from long range and 5 of 15 from the floor. She came into the midweek matinee averaging 16.5 ppg.
• American shot 43.1 percent (25-58) on its home floor and hit a season-high with 90.9 percent (10-11) from the charity stripe, while the Mountain Hawks closed with a season-low 30.4 percent (17-56) from the field and only 25 percent (5-20) from three after hitting 33.9 percent overall on the season.
• The two teams were even with 11 turnovers each, but the Eagles picked up 13 points off those miscues while Lehigh added only six. AU also led in the paint, 40-24, on the fast break, 12-5, and in bench points, 28-14.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• American set the pace in the first quarter, bouncing back from an early four-point deficit to Lehigh with a closing 9-0 run to take a 23-18 lead by the break.
• Lehigh hit two of its five three's in the first 10 minutes, both from Kramer, but Johns hit one of her own and the Eagles closed shooting 56.3 percent from the field behind a pair of six point efforts from Fisher and Edwards to win the quarter.
• Lehigh made it a one-possession game early in the second quarter behind a pair of baskets from Walker and Emma Grothaus, but a well-timed trey from Doring rebuilt a six-point gap less than three minutes into the stanza. 
• The two teams held steady at 28-22 for nearly three minutes until a layup from Lehigh's Kaylee Van Eps ended the drought. Back-to-back baskets from Grothaus cut the Eagles' lead back down to one but Edwards had the response, hitting each of the next five points before sophomore Kayla Henning sank the final bucket of the half to pull American back ahead at 37-29 heading into the locker room.
• AU came out firing on all cylinders in the second half as a layup from Bales sent the team on an opening 8-0 run to take the largest lead yet of the day at 45-29. 
• Lehigh cut that lead down to 12 briefly but AU continued to dominate down the stretch as a pair of three's from Doring and DeRubbo, and Fisher's last field goal of the day, put American ahead at 54-37 going into the final 10 minutes.
• Head coach Megan Gebbia emptied the bench in the final stanza, giving the starters a rest ahead of another battle on Wednesday. The Eagles held Lehigh to only eight points for the second consecutive quarter while widening the gap with 10 of their own behind baskets from Bales, freshman Bailey Garbee, Johns, and Doring. 
• AU picked up as much as a 23-point lead after an opening 6-0 run before Lehigh's offense got rolling.

NEXT UP
It will be a quick turnaround for both teams, as the Eagles and Mountain Hawks are set to return to Bender Arena on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. start. 

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).