ST. DAVIDS, Pa.–Eastern University Women's Basketball went through nearly a whole season of scenarios in a single game. The Eagles built a big lead in the first half, and they trailed in the second and rallied to force overtime before falling 77-71 to visiting King's in the Freedom Conference opener for both teams. Shante Jones led the way for the Eagles with 23 points and nine rebounds.

The first half could not have been better for the Eagles. Coach Davis's young squad rebounded well and contested Monarch shots on defense, and they utilized nine offensive rebounds to build a 33-21 lead at intermission. Mary Poole led all scorers at intermission with 10 points. 

The start of the second half was probably as bad for the home side as the first half was good. The Monarchs started hitting from outside almost immediately, and the complexion of the game changed. Jones hit the first basket of the half on an inside move to put the Eagles up 35-21. King's responded with a Brittany Muscatell three, and Jones answered with another inside bucket to make the score 37-24.

King's then put together a 19-0 run over the next six minutes to build a six point edge. The Eagles changed defenses and tried different things on offense, but nothing seemed to work as the Monarchs roared back. 

"I need to give credit to King's." Head Coach Nate Davis said after the game, "They hit shots when they needed to and played like they had experience. They are a good team that handled the situation well. We did not execute on quite enough plays."

Even with the big run, the Eagles still had a chance in the game. Aly Goodman provided a spark off the bench and Jones began to get inside with a little more consistency, but King's held their lead at six points until nearly the five minute mark. From that point forward, Eastern was able to chip away at the deficit with free throw shooting and the occasional inside basket. 

The deficit, however, remained at four with two minutes to play and the ball in Monarchs' hands. The Eagles elected to play for stops, and the strategy worked as Jones converted in transition to cut the deficit to two with 40 seconds to play and they earned another stop with 15 seconds left to have a chance to tie. 

Bekah Roland and Mary Poole both grabbed offensive rebounds and Poole's lay-up attempt was halfway down and rimmed out, but the junior forward was fouled in the act of shooting and had a chance to tie the game with seven seconds left. Poole's first attempt hit nothing but net, and, after a Monarch timeout, her second attempt dropped home off the front rim. Jones made a steal near mid-court just as time was running out, and she was unable to get a shot off.

The overtime started poorly as Lindsay Atchison scored the first six points of the period to give the visitors the final margin. Atchison scored nine of her 17 points in the overtime. Celia Rader led all scorers with 24 points. Poole finished with 16 for the Eagles.

"It's all part of the maturing process, part of us growing this season." Davis said, "It's good for us to have a game like this where we have a lead, have to fight back from a deficit, and then to see overtime. We can learn from this, we will learn. We'll watch the tape and see what needs to improve, for the girls and for us as a coaching staff. We are just going to take it one game at a time."

Eastern (4-2, 0-1 Freedom) will have a chance to get back on the winning track when they travel to Misericordia on Saturday.