WASHINGTON – In their final non-conference game of the season, the Eagles of the American University women's basketball team fell to the crosstown visitors, the Bison of Howard 75-46. The Eagles will open conference play and the new year at home against Navy on Jan. 2.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Anna Rescifina topped AU in scoring with 13 points. She closed the afternoon with four rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
• Laura Nogues and Lexi Salazar each had two made triples in the game, but American struggled with perimeter shooting throughout the game, going 5-for-21 from distance as a team. Nogues finished the game with eight points and three assists.
• Graduate student guard Ivy Bales led the Eagles on the glass and in assists. She had five rebounds and five assists, as well as two steals to go with her six points. Freshmen Cecilia Kay and Madisyn Moore-Nicholson matched with two steals apiece.
• Four Bison scored in double digits, but it was Destiny Howell who led all players on the court with 15 points. The Bison had the edge over AU in rebounding, 42-31, and points in the paint, 52-14, and scored 35 points off AU turnovers.

How it Happened

• Howard took a 11-4 early lead in the contest in the opening four minutes, shooting 5-for-8 from the floor to start, four points coming from turnovers as they limited to AU to just four shots, only one of which was made.
• Despite a triple from Nogues late in the frame, American struggled to get going offensively, but did manage to limit the damage on the other end of the court, griding to be down only four at the end of the quarter, 10-14. AU shot just 3-for-13 in the first, 23 percent.
• The Bison scoring their eighth point of an Eagles turnover was how the second quarter started, and the run continued to see Howard jump out to a 22-10 lead with 7:30 left to play in the frame.
• Midway through the second period, American had added a triple from Salazar, but nothing else was going for AU and Howard held an 11-point lead, up 24-13 with 4:50 to go before the halftime break.
• The tides would stay flowing on HU's side, the Bison taking a sizeable lead, almost double AU's score, into the locker rooms for halftime, up 36-20.
• Howard kept rolling in the second half, outscoring American 15-8 in the opening five minutes of the third quarter, four different Eagles got in on the scoring, Pingree, Salazar, Kay, and Rescifina, but American was down 55-28 with four minutes to play in the frame. At the end of the period, American trailed Howard, 63-35.
• Rescifina exploded offensively in the final period. After going 0-for-3 from the floor in the opening half, the Italian scored 12 points in the closing half of the game.
• Neither team closed out the game strong, Howard going on a scoreless run over three minutes long, but the Bison didn't need the extra buckets to claim the contest as their own. HU shot 47 percent to American's 34 percent from the floor and the Bison charged past American 73-46.

On the Horizon
The Eagles begin Patriot League play on Thursday, Jan. 2, taking on Navy in Bender to kick off the New Year.
 
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