WASHINGTON – A Saturday afternoon trip across town resulted in the American University women's basketball team falling at Howard University, 75-57. Three Eagles scored in double-digits, but it wasn't enough to stem the second-half push from the home team and the Bison claimed the victory over the Eagles in their final nonconference and final contest of the year.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 

• In the first half alone, Anna LeMaster was 4-5, including 2-3 from distance, to grab 12 of her 21 total points to top her previous career high of 18. Six of LeMaster's points came from the free throw line.
• Emily Johns, the senior forward, collected 15 points overall. Johns also tallied four rebounds and had two assists and two steals.
• Laura Nogues also had herself a night, the sophomore point guard had 10 points, one point shy of her career high. She also tacked on five rebounds, three assists, and a steal when she started as point guard.
• Defensively, the Eagles were topped by Nogues and Lauren Stack with five rebounds apiece.
• The Bison also had three players score in double-digits for the afternoon. Kaiya Creek, Nile Miller, and Iyanna Warren scored 17, 14, and 12 points respectively. They trio also combined for 13 rebounds, Creek leading with six.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• The first frame was filled with back and forth action. The Bison grabbed the first two buckets and then tacked on a pair of free throws to lead by 6-2 with 7:39 left to play in the opening quarter.
• With under five left to play in the quarter, the Eagles were down 7-4. The Bison had already gone 3-4 from the charity stripe and with 3:31 left in the quarter, AU was forced to call a timeout when they went down 13-4.
• At the midway point in the opening frame, American had no turnovers while Howard had three, but at the conclusion of the frame, the turnovers were even at four. LeMaster capped off the opening ten minutes with a last moment bucket to bring the score to have the Eagles trailing 12-15, just one possession.
• It was more of the same in the second, but the efforts of Johns and LeMaster, who had scored a combined 23 points in the first half, meant that the Eagles went into halftime with the score line knotted up at 31-all.
• Coming out of the break, Howard was firing on the offensive, jumping out to a quick five-point lead, but a three from Nogues interrupted the run. It only stemmed the bleeding though, as the Bison cracked open a 12-point lead by the midway point of the penultimate quarter, up 48-36 over the Eagles.
• LeMaster dropped another three, her third of the game, to make a dent in the Bison lead before the media timeout, but with only the final frame left to play, Howard led by 11, up 57-46 over the Eagles.
• The momentum was keeping with the home team in the final frame, the Bison keeping a double-digit lead to force the Eagles against the clock while they tried to mount a comeback.
• American was held to 33% field goal percentage, while Howard finished going 52% from the field when they took the game 75-57. 

UP NEXT 
American will be on the road to start Patriot League play, taking on Lehigh on Wednesday, January 3, before coming back home to Bender Arena to take on Bucknell on Saturday, January 6 at 2 p.m.
 
Tickets are on sale now at AUEagles.com/Tickets! 
  
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