WASHINGTON – After falling behind early to Army West Point (4-11, 2-3 PL) the American University women's basketball team (3-13, 2-3 PL) was unable to mount a comeback despite an evenly matched second half Wednesday night in Bender Arena, and the Eagles ended up falling 77-56 to the Black Knights. Lauren Stack led in scoring for AU with 12 points on the evening. The Eagles move to 2-3 in conference play heading into Saturday's home meeting with Lehigh.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Stack led for the Eagles with 12 points, going 5-7 and shooting 71% from the field. The senior forward also had four rebounds, a steal, one block, and one assist.
• Anna LeMaster and Emily Johns both pulled in 10 points apiece. LeMaster also had four rebounds and an assist in her first start of the season. Johns ended up fouling out of the game with two minutes left to play.
• On the boards, American was led by guard Ivy Bales. The junior finished the game with seven rebounds, six assists, and three more steals, along with six points.
• The Black Knights were led in scoring by Reese Ericson and Lauren Lithgow, who had 20 and 17 points respectively. Ericson also had 10 assists. On the boards, Army was led by Sabria Hunter who had 10.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• It was a back and forth, even competition to start the game. Halfway through the first quarter, American led Army West Point 11-10. The Eagles opened the game shooting 63% and holding the Black Knights to 44%.
• By the end of the first, Army evened the stats, shooting 5-8 from beyond the arc (63%) and both teams were shooting 53% from the field. The Black Knights led the Eagles 25-17 at the end of the frame; the Eagles had four scoring players to the Black Knights' seven.
• Midway through the second quarter, Bales had already gotten six of her rebounds in the first fifteen minutes of the game, all before she got her first field goal of the night.
• In the second, Army was shooting 50% from the field while American was shooting 40%, but the Black Knights had an advantage, shooting 47% from beyond-the-arc, to take the 46-27 lead into the break.
• The third period saw a lot of the same trends, but the Eagles were only outscored 17-15, and shot 44% from the field to the Black Knight's 33%. By the end of the third period, American was out-rebounded 34-23, most of which were offensive boards, 14-6.
• In the second half, the Eagles were only outscored two points, 32-29, but the 19-point deficit from the first half proved to be insurmountable for American. The Eagles even topped the Black Knights in field goal percentage for the game, 44-42, but where Army made 12 triples, American sank zero.
• The final count for rebounds was 44-28 with the edge going to Army, who pulled out the 77-56 win over American.

UP NEXT
The Eagles are back in Bender taking on Lehigh on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m. before hitting the road to take on Lafayette on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 11 a.m.

Tickets are on sale now at AUEagles.com/Tickets!
 
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