WASHINGTON – The American University women's basketball team is back on the road to take on the Black Knights of Army West Point on Saturday. First tip is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Follow Along

• Date & Time: Saturday, Feb. 1; 1 p.m. 
• Site: West Point, N.Y. (Christl Arena)
• TV: ESPN+

• The Black Knights hold the 4-1 advantage over the Eagles in the last five matchups. However, AU, on its most recent trip to West Point, claimed the victory in Christl Arena and the two teams split the series last season. In West Point, the series is tied 12-all.
• It was a six-point, 75-69, victory on the road, but when Army came into Bender six weeks later it was a decisive 14 point, 66-52 victory for the visitors.
• To get that road dub, Ivy Bales was everywhere on the hardwood with a team leading 14 points to go with her four rebounds, a steal, and two assists. Bailey Garbee was everywhere as well, stuffing her stat line with 12 points and four assists offensively, plus three steals, a block, and a team-leading five boards. The Black Knights were led by Fiona Hastick with 18 points, Kya Smith with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Lauren Lighthgow with 12 points.
• At home in Bender, not many Eagles fired offensively. Former Eagle, Emily Johns led with 11 points, and Garbee notched eight, while Bales led with five rebounds and four assists. For Army, Trinity Hardy led with a game-high 16 points, followed by Addison Ainsworth (12) and Hastick (11).

• The Eagles are high off their first win of the season, and first in Patriot League play, holding a 1-19 record overall and 1-8 record in the league. The victory came over Lafayette at home in Bender, topping the Leopards 54-52.
• Grace Koepke led the Eagles–and all players on the court–on the night in scoring with 18 points, followed by Cecilia Kay with 13 points, and Laura Nogues with nine. Koepke's career high came from 7-for-10 shooting, including going 3-for-3 from three point range. She also had a career-high two steals.
• Kay led all players on the hardwood with nine rebounds, her 13th time leading AU this year. Koepke had eight, one shy of her career high. Despite Kay's efforts on the glass, American was narrowly outrebounded overall, 35-32.
• Point guards Nogues and Lexi Salazar had a team leading four assists apiece.
• Leading the Eagles this season on both ends of the court, Kay averages 11.1 ppg and 8.5 rpg. The 6'2 freshman has started in every contest for AU in her collegiate debut season. In the league, she's second in blocked shots (30), and third in rebounding.
• Ivy Bales has 23 steals this season, leading the squad in the stat, and is second on the team in rebounding with 5.1 rpg.
• Bales is the 20th player in AU history to become a member of the 500 rebound club, having hit the milestone in December against Towson. She has a career total of 569 boards. She is eight rebounds away from joining the prestigious top 10 list of most in American history. She is also now tied for eighth in AU history in assists with 324.
• Bales is also currently tied for 10th all time in games played for AU with 121. The leading number of games played by an AU student athlete is 127 and there are nine games remaining in the regular season.

• The Black Knights have overall had s successful season thus far with a 15-4 overall record and a 7-2 record in the PL, sitting at third in the league. They hold a 7-3 home record in Christl Arena, two of those losses were to Holy Cross and Lehigh. Most recently, Army won 65-60 over Colgate on the road.
• Leading the way for the Black Knights was Kya Smith, with a career-high 22 points while shooting an outstanding 80 percent from the field. Trinity Hardy and Camryn Tade also posted double-digit performances, scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively. Hardy and Fiona Hastick led on the boards for Army with seven rebounds each.
• The Black Knights only scored two three pointers from 10 attempts, but did manage to shoot 48 percent from the field overall with 44 points in the paint and 10 second chance points.
• Hardy leads the team, and is sixth in the league, in scoring, averaging 13.7 ppg and is third in field goal percentage shooting 43.6 percent from the floor. Hardy is also eighth in the league in assists (57) and eights in assist/turnover ratio (1.0).
• Teammate Reese Ericson is leading the league in three point field goal percentage (38.8 percent) and in three pointers per game (2.5).
• Two Black Knights are top 10 in the league in rebounding, Smith (7.5 rpg) and Tade (5.8 rpg) to help put Army at fourth overall in the PL in combined team rebounds (35.1), although narrowly behind American at second in the league, averaging 36.0 rpg.
• The Black Knights top the league in in defense, holding their opponents to just 56.1 points per game while averaging 62.0 points for themselves.

Follow the Eagles
Instagram | Twitter | AUEagles | Facebook