ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- Eastern University Women's Basketball forced thirty turnovers and held the visiting FDU-Florham Devils to 28% shooting to earn a 55-38 home win. Katie Lincoln finished with a game-high 17 points to pace the Eagles to their 15th win of the year.

Both teams struggled early and the Eagles trailed 12-9  with just over eight minutes to play when Lincoln connected on her second three-pointer of the game to knot the score at 12-12 . The two teams then traded baskets and it looked like the offenses were going to get on track. The opposite, in fact, happened. Neither team was able to find any room to shoot until Jess Ogden scored on a put-back with two minutes to play to start a 7-0 run. Ogden made a pair of free throws and Shante Jones hit a three-pointer from wing to put Eastern up 21-14 at the break.

Shealyn Taggart scored 10 of FDU's first half points to lead all scorers at the break. Lincoln had eight. The Devils, committed to stopping transition and keeping Jones away from the basket, held the league's top scorer to just four first half points, but Jones made her mark with eight first half steals and six rebounds.

"I was a little disappointed in our focus in the beginning, " said Head Coach Nate Davis, "I have to give credit to FDU for keeping us so stagnant and forcing us to do things we weren't comfortable with.  We just didn't look comfortable at all." With Jones bottled up and Bekah Roland in early foul trouble, the Eagles still figured out a way to grab a seven point halftime lead against the team that beat them by 23 points earlier in the year.

"It was sloppy to say the least." Lincoln said of the first half, "We just weren't focused in the beginning. But we started to pick it up on defense. Playing good defense gets the rest of the game rolling."

While the Devils closed the gap to five early in the half, the Eagles used tough defense for a 15-6 run. The burst was fueled by good defense, and started with a Katie Lincoln three and ended with a similar shot from Erika Kinney. Jones set up both hoops with good penetration and kicks. Though she finished with only 12 points, Jones did amass her second triple-double of the campaign with 10 steals and 12 rebounds. She also had six assists.

The Eagles never let FDU back inside double-digits through the end of the game. Roland scored six points down the stretch to help hold off FDU. With her 13 points, she is now three points short of 1000 for her career. She finished with 13 points

While the Eagles (15-9, 7-6 Freedom) took care of their own result, the other scores that needed to happen to keep them alive for a post-season berth did not happen, and they were mathematically eliminated from the playoff picture. 

Regardless, the Eastern squad made tremendous strides from last year and with the 15 wins equals the second most successful campaign  since Eastern joined Division III. They are 10-1 at home this year and will have a chance to finish above .500 in the league when they host Delaware Valley College on Saturday at 1:00.

 Box Score