BOSTON – It came down to the wire in Case Gym, but the American University women's basketball team fell 58-56 to Boston University on Wednesday night. The Eagles and the Terriers split the series one apiece, each winning on their respective home court.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Both Molly Lavin and Emily Johns racked up nine points in the first half alone. Through the full 40, the two forwards were good for 11 and 17 points, respectively.
• Lavin also led the Eagles with seven rebounds. Ivy Bales and Anna LeMaster had six and five each. Lavin also had one assist, two steals, and a block.
• For the Terriers, Caitlin Weimer led the charge offensively with 20 points along with 14 from Alex Giannaros, while Weimar also topped the crew on the glass with six rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Terriers won the tip, but it was a slow start to the first when they got the first basket but nothing else dropped until the clock read 6:58 to go in the opening quarter.
• The Eagles were kept from scoring until 5:23 remained in the period when Lavin got a layup and BU held a 6-2 lead at that point. AU wouldn't get another bucket until John's got a jumper with just over three minutes left in the frame.
• Through ten minutes, Johns had seven points, including a made three from beyond the arc, and the Eagles were only trailing by one, down 11-12. Kayla Henning was the other contributor with a jumper.
• A triple from Lavin gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, up 14-12, and a foul on Johns added two more, AU leading 16-12 with 6:18 to go in the first half.
• American's defense kept the Terriers from scoring from the floor for over seven minutes, from the last minute of the first through the first six minutes of play in the second period. The Eagles were up 20-14 with 3:39 before the break.
• The Eagles forced another scoring drought ahead of halftime and kept the Terriers off the board for a hair shy of two minutes.
• Just before the break, Lavin got back on defense for a steal, shoveled the ball to Lexi Salazar who sank a three, and had AU up 26-19 until a free throw from Lauren Stack had the Eagles carrying an eight point, 27-19, lead into halftime.
• Out of the break it would be Stack with a layup to add to the cushion, but back-to-back triples from BU's Giannaros would have the two teams just four points apart until LeMaster finally got on the scoring side of the stat sheet and made it 33-26 at 6:56 to go in the third.
• The midway point of the third saw the Eagles still up by six, topping the Terriers 36-30, but the Terriers had the narrow edge in scoring, grabbing 11 to AU's nine in the first five minutes of the second half.
• The rest of the third kept the same pace as the first half, with the Terriers earning the offensive edge, but both Johns and Stack earned their third personal fouls late in the frame. The Terriers had closed the gap, and it was a four point game with one quarter to play.
• American went on a 7-0 run to begin the fourth quarter, up 51-40 thanks to four points from Johns and three from Stack. The run would prove critical when the Terriers went on a run of their own, outscoring the Eagles 8-2. The Eagles still led, but only by five with 4:41 to play in regulation.
• It would be a two-point game, 53-51, when BU's Weimar would get a three point play with 4:06 to go and just over a minute later it would be Weimer again to tie the game up at 53-all.
• Boston would retake the lead on a Giannaros triple with 1:32 left, but Bales would answer on the other end, and it was 56-all with 31.8 remaining, Boston ball.
• The Eagles would foul and send the Terriers to the line where Audrey Ericksen would make one of two and the Eagles found themselves down one, 57-56 with six seconds remaining.
• In the end, it was two missed free throws with four seconds left and a missed behind-the-back layup attempt that denied the Eagles their win.
• Even with a foul and BU going up 58-56, the Eagles only had 1.2 seconds left to make an impact and the tree point jumper from LeMaster would miss its mark. Boston took the 58-56 win to split the series.

UP NEXT
The Eagles will be coming home to Bender Arena on Saturday, February 24 at 4 p.m. to take on Colgate for their Mental Health Awareness game.

Tickets are on sale now at AUEagles.com/Tickets!
 
KEEP UP WITH US
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).