WASHINGTON – The Eagles of the American University women's basketball team managed to stay close for a majority of the game, but when the Midshipmen of Navy pulled away to start the fourth quarter, the deficit was too much to recover, and AU fell 66-59 to Navy.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Ellie Pingree led the Eagles in scoring on the night, one of only two Eagles in double-digits with 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting. It was a career night for the freshman in points (17) and field goals (7).
• Laura Nogues, followed in second for AU with her 12 points. She went 3-for-6 from distance, but American struggled overall from deep, going only 4-for-15. Ivy Bales matched Nogues with five assists and picked up four rebounds and eight points.
• Cecilia Kay led American on the glass with nine and defensively she added four blocks and two steals to go with her eight points.
• Navy's Zannai Barnett-Gay dropped 24 points and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line. She also had seven rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block to stuff her stat sheet line. Morgan Demos led all players on the court with 12 crashed boards to go with her nine points.

How it Happened

• A balanced start to the game, teams tied at seven all after an opening three from Nogues set the tone early in the first. Pingree was 3-for-5 at the halfway mark of the first period. It was Navy up one, 13-12, five minutes into the game.
• Pingree came through to lead all players on the court through one with 10 points, AU down 21-17. Nogues hit her offensive stride in the second period, hitting her second three and keeping the fire under AU, garnering nine points by with 4:30 to play until halftime.
• Kay already had five of her rebounds by that point, but for the Mids Barnett-Gay was already carrying 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting while Maren Louridas had crashed six boards, and Navy held a 37-32 lead going into the locker rooms.
• The third period saw AU go on a 7-1 run, but then both teams went scoreless for over three minutes late in the frame. Pingree kept working offensively through despite the scoring drought, scoring five points in the period.
• Late in the third, Navy's Louridas picked up her fourth foul. At the time, she had five points, six rebounds, and two assists.
• Through three, American had a narrow edge in points in the paint, 24-22, but Navy was ahead in points off turnovers, 14-8. The Eagles were down just four, 49-45, at the changeover to the final period.
• Navy started sailing away in the fourth period though, going on an 9-2 run to start off the final ten, Barnett-Gay with four of those points, up 58-47 with 7:07 left to play in the game.
• American battled back into it, closing the gap a bit, but not making it close enough. The Eagles would make it a five point game, down 64-59. The game wouldn't fall AU's way and the Mids would claim the 59-66 victory over American to start Patriot League play.

On the Horizon
The Eagles head out on the road to face off with the Holy Cross Crusaders on Sunday, Jan. 5 with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. The squad will be back in Bender on Wednesday, Jan. 8 to take on Boston University at 11:30 a.m.

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