a HAMILTON, N.Y. – Saturday afternoon was a grind on Cotterell Court when the American University women's basketball team took on Colgate. In the end, the game came down to fouls, and the Eagles picked up the gritty, 56-54, win off a rebound from Lauren Stack with two seconds left.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Emily Johns, despite foul trouble for most of the second half, led defensively for American. The senior forward had six rebounds. Johns also accumulated 13 points to lead the AU offensive campaign.
• Bailey Garbee had a night for herself, going 5-for-7 from the floor, including 1-for-2 from three to finish with 12 points. The junior guard was seemingly everywhere and had two rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a block to stuff her line on the stat sheet.
• Senior point guard Kayla Henning tied with Garbee and totaled 12 points, while also tacking on three rebounds, to assists, and two steals.
• Tiasia McMillan led the charge for the Raiders with 12 points, and Sophie Diehl topped out in rebounding with 10.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Colgate started out the scoring in the period and the theme followed continued, the Raiders out-pacing American 9-4 in the first five minutes and forcing five Eagles' turnovers and timeout to attempt to regroup.
• Until Ivy Bales grabbed a steal and dropped the ball to Anna LeMaster with 2:42 left to play in the first, it had been five minutes between buckets for American. LeMaster ended up converting from the line when she was fouled on the play.
• The Eagles gained momentum with that play and ended up on top through one, going on an 11-2 run to finish out the opening frame and leading 15-13.
• The second period saw the pace pick up and both teams running the length of the floor; two Raiders' turnovers kept AU up, leading 21-16 at the quarter's midway point.
• It was a grind through the rest of the half, Colgate catching back up, even leading by three with one minute left to go before the Eagles finished out with grit to take a 27-26 lead going into the break on two Bales free throws.
• The up and down pace from the end of the first followed through to the start of the second and AU struggled to put distance between itself and Colgate, maintaining the lead, but unable to build upon it.
• A nine point lead in the second was as big as it got, happening twice. The second nine point lead came when Garbee sunk a three right in front of the AU bench and made it 46-38 to the Eagles.
• Just like they had all afternoon, the Raiders battled it to a six point deficit, refusing to let AU surge ahead, the third period ended with the Eagles up six, 46-40.
• Bales ended up fouling out with 1:19 left to play in the contest, tapping out with six points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. The score was 56-50 to the Eagles.
• A four point game with 37.8 remaining, American up 56-52, had tensions running high on Cotterell Court when AU called a timeout to regroup when Colgate gained possession.
• The Eagles were able to get the steal and knock ten seconds off the clock, but Colgate took the rock right back with 20 seconds remaining. The Raiders aimed and fired from three, but it bounced off the rim and went out for an American possession with 11.2 seconds to go.
• Johns was sent to the line with two seconds remaining after three consecutive Colgate fouls to try and get the ball back, and despite uncharacteristically missing both attempts, Stack was able to stretch and pull down the offensive rebound, quickly putting distance between herself and any Raider wishing to foul and the game came to an end with the Eagles grinding out a 56-42 win on the road.
• The Eagles are now 6-2 in conference play.

UP NEXT
The Eagles return home to Bender Arena to face off with Lafayette on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. It will be the team's Pride Celebration game.
Tickets are on sale now at AUEagles.com/Tickets!
 
KEEP UP WITH US
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