WASHINGTON – The American women's basketball officially secured the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament after overcoming Lafayette, 62-48, on Wednesday in Bender Arena.

THE PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT FIELD

• With Wednesday's win, American has secured the No. 2 in the Patriot League and will host a Patriot League quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 2. The Eagles will face the winner of Saturday's first round game between 10-seed Loyola Maryland and seven-seed Lafayette.
• The winner of Monday's game will advance to the semifinal game on Thursday, March 10. The Patriot League Championship is set for noon on Sunday, March 13, and will be broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network.
• Each game of the tournament will be hosted by the team with the higher seed.
• For a full breakdown of the tournament field, click here.

 BY THE NUMBERS

• Sophomore Emily Johns had another massive performance, leading the Eagles with a career-high 19 points in 22 minutes, including 15 in the second half alone.
• Seniors Jade Edwards and Emily Fisher also closed in double-figures. Fisher added 14 points while Edwards posted her 20th career double-double, third of the season, with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
• Senior Maddie Doring and junior Karla Vres both added 7 points each to the score sheet for the Eagles with Doring also pitching in a team-high four assists.
• Lafayette dominated on the boards with 38 rebounds behind a career-high 20 from Naomi Ganpo. Abby Antognoli, Jessica Booth, and Ganpo led the Leopards in scoring with 10 points each.
• American closed the game shooting 45.5 percent (25-55) from the floor and 27.8 percent (5-18) from the three-point line. Lafayette trailed with 38.9 percent (21-54) from the floor and 12.5 percent (2-16) from long range.
• The Eagles dominated on bench points, 28-6, and points in the paint, 32-24. AU closed with only six turnovers - the lowest for the team since the 2017-18 championship season when they had five against Colgate (Jan. 2, 2018). The Leopards picked up nine points off those miscues while American walked away with 26 points off Lafayette's 17 turnovers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• It was a tight battle through the first quarter, with the two teams drawing even four times and the lead changing seven times throughout the opening 10 minutes. 
• With five seconds left in the stanza, American trailed by one but had possession. Sophomore Riley DeRubbo had a three attempt but it was just off the mark. Senior Taylor Brown came away with the offensive board and quickly fed the ball to Edwards who sank the layup just before the buzzer to give the Eagles a 12-11 lead heading into the huddle.
• Fisher and Edwards controlled the scoring for AU in the first quarter with six points each.
• The AU defense was keyed in during the second quarter, holding Lafayette to only four points, all at the hands of Kylie Favours. In a much more well-rounded offensive effort, five Eagles got on the board, including the first four points of the day from Johns, as American hit a 15-4 run to take a 27-15 lead into the locker room.
• Lafayette battled back in the third quarter, though, as an opening 10-0 narrowed the AU lead back down to two within the first three minutes, forcing American to call a timeout.
• The Eagles found their legs coming out of the huddle as Johns hit a quick layup, followed by a three from Fisher to bring AU back up by five.
• The Leopards snuck back within three briefly, but Johns once again had the response, scoring all seven of AU's next eight points to bring the score to 39-31 with just over three minutes left in the stanza.
• Sophomore Ivy Bales added two more and junior Karla Vres sank her only three of the night to give AU a 44-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
• American continued its run into the fourth quarter, starting with a second chance bucket from Vres followed by a layup from Doring to rebuild a 10-point lead at 48-38.
• The Leopards narrowed the margin to as little as four points midway through the quarter, but they didn't have the response for American down the stretch as the Eagles closed with a 10-0 run in the final four minutes.

NEXT UP
American will host the winner of the Patriot League Tournament First Round game between seven-seed Lafayette and 10-seed Loyola Maryland on Monday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in Bender Arena. The winner of that game will go on to the PL semifinal on Thursday, March 10.

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).