WASHINGTON –– Two home games remain for the American University women's basketball team, and starting off, the Eagles will face the Bucknell Bison on Wednesday, Feb. 18. First tip in Bender is set for 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
           
Follow Along

• Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 18; 6 p.m.
• Site: Washington, D.C. (Bender Arena)
• TV: ESPN+

Series History

• Bucknell holds the narrow 31-28 win margin over American, but American leads 16-11 at home in Bender Arena.
• The Eagles are riding a five game loss-streak against Bucknell, both home and away, without a win in the series since January 2024.
• When the teams faced off two weeks ago, the Eagles fell in a low-scoring affair, dropping 58-45 on the road in Lewisburg, Pa.
• In that game earlier this season, Madisyn Moore-Nicholson finished with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting for AU.
• Molly Driscoll and Charlotte Tuhy helped offensively with ten and nine points each; Tuhy also picked up nine rebounds which led all players on the court.
• Points in the paint and bench points were once again a problem for American; AU scored just 18 points down low to Bucknell's 30. The Bison claimed 18 points off turnovers. The Eagles only picked up nine points from their bench.
• Tuana Coskun, who finished the first half with two points for Bucknell, finished with 21 to lead all players on the floor. Reese Zemitis finished with 12 points.

Tipping Off

• The Eagles are looking for a win to snap a four-game loss streak after falling to Army's Black Knights, 85-56, on the road on Saturday. During this difficult stretch of games, the Eagles played three of the top four teams in the League (No. 1 Navy, No. 2 Army, No. 4 Lehigh).
• Against the Black Knights, Army opened on a roll and didn't relent the entire game. The hosts were up 20-11 after the first period and only kept building that lead as time went on.
• The teams were equal in shooting percentage with Army shooting 47.8 percent from the floor to AU's 48.9 percent, but Army took 67 chances to AU's 45. The Eagles also only sank three treys while the Black Knights drained 13 three pointers.
• Anna Rescifina finished the afternoon on top for American with 10 points; the senior guard was the only Eagle in double digits. Guards Molly Driscoll and Laura Nogues contributed nine and eight points, respectively, and capped out with Nogues had a team-leading four assists and two steals.
• American relied more on bench points than it has for much of the season, scoring 30 from nonstarters. The Eagles did well down low as well, earning 32 points in the paint to Army's 36.
• Driscoll leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.5 ppg this season. The sophomore has 15 games in which she's scored in double-digits this year, five of which were 20+ point outings. She's topped the squad in scoring a team-leading nine times and leads the team from distance, shooting 32.5 percent from three-point range with 41 made threes this season.
• Freshman Charlotte Tuhy is second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg), and leads both the squad, and league, in rebounding (10.6 rpg). Tuhy is 13th in the nation in rebounding. She's got a total of 266 rebounds this season, which puts her at third all-time for an Eagle in a single season. She's two away from being tied for second in the stat and, with four games remaining in the regular season, is 38 back from the record of 304 that was set by Mary Klima in the 1997-98 season.
• The only other Eagle in double-digit scoring position average is Madisyn Moore-Nicholson. The sophomore drops an average of 10.6 ppg and has led the squad in scoring in seven games this season.
• The Eagles are eighth in offense and 10th in the Patriot League in defense, scoring an average of 55.6 ppg and allowing an average of 66.7 ppg. Bucknell is behind American in scoring offense (53.4 ppg) but is second in the league in defense (57.6 ppg); Both teams, though, are in a scoring margin deficit, Bucknell at -4.2 and AU at -11.1.
• American is ninth in the Patriot League in field goal percentage (.365) and opponent field goal percentage (.433). In contrast, the Bison are eighth in the league from the field, averaging .384 and are ranked fourth in the league in limiting opponent field goal percentage (.392).
• AU ranks in the middle of the league in three-pointers made (152), ahead of Bucknell in seventh with 156 made from long range. Neither team's long-range percentage is noteworthy, Bucknell shooting .282 percent from three while AU shoots .270.

Scouting the Bison

• Bucknell are in a similar situation to the Eagles, with just one more conference win (5-9) and on a two-game loss streak, including dropping 68-54 against BU on Saturday afternoon at home. The Bison were up 32-28 at the halftime break, but the Terriers outscored their hosts 40-22 in the second half, including 20-9 in the fourth quarter, to complete the comeback win on the road.
• Three Bison scored in double-digits against the Terriers in the loss: Reese Zemitis (14), Tuana Coskun (10), and Mariah Hary (10). As a collective, Bucknell shot just 32.7 percent from the field to BU's 53.3 percent, which includes going 40.0 percent from beyond the arc with eight made threes.
• This season, the Bison are led by Coskun with an average of 13.3 ppg, which ranks her 12th in the Patriot League in scoring. Coskun has 36 made threes and is shooting 32.4 percent from three-point range and holds an overall field goal percentage of 39.8.
• Zemitis is a big contributor to the Bucknell offense, averaging 9.8 ppg as the season begins to twilight; Zemitis is shooting 35.6 percent from the floor.
• Isabella Casey is also putting up numbers with a 7.9 ppg average and a 40.6 percent shooting average. Casey is second on the team is rebounding, averaging 4.0 boards per game. Teammate Anna Kunzweiler leads with her 4.4 rpg average; she also leads two other defensive stats with 17 blocks and 22 steals.
• The Bison are strong defensively, and despite being out-rebounded–the Bison are ninth in the league in combined team rebounds, averaging 30.3 rpg–the squad has the second-best defense in the league, allowing opponents an average of 57.6 ppg. They are also second in blocked shots (88). The Bison are also third in the league in opponent three point percentage (.287), which limits their opponents' options from deep.

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