ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- Eastern University Women's Basketball led wire-to-wire and held off a late challenge from the visiting Misericordia University Cougars to emerge with an important 58-57 Freedom Conference victory. Meghan Nowak scored 30 points for the third time this season to help the Eagles (11-2, 3-0 Freedom) remain in a first place tie early in the conference schedule.

The anticipated match-up between Nowak and Christine Marks, the 2011 Freedom Conference Player of the Year, only happened at one end of the floor as Eastern Head Coach Nate Davis elected to put Shante Jones on Marks on defense for most of the first thirty minutes. Jones used good strength and footwork to limit the inside touches of the bigger Marks, and the Eagles built an 11 point lead after 15 minutes of action. 

"Shante did a great job on her [Marks]" Davis stated, "and being able to switch Meghan onto her for possessions in the second half was really important as well. Our defense broke down a little bit when Marks was out of the game, but we felt we wanted to limit her, and we did. She really only had two shots in the paint in the first half."

The veteran Cougar side cut the deficit to 27-21 at the break as Jesse Robinson made a pair of inside baskets and Tyann McDaniel scored on a drive and 3-pointer to close the period. McDaniel's 3-pointer from just right of the top of the key was Misericordia's only long range connection of the night. 

Marks, who picked up her second foul with four minutes to play in the half, had four points on 2-5 shooting. Nowak was 5-7 for 13 points. 

Marks scored an inside basket to start the second half, but picked up her third foul just seconds later. The Eagles began to work the ball into the post and the collapsing Misericordia defense left Jones open at the top of the key. The senior All-American drained the three while being fouled and completed the four point play to give the home side a 33-25 lead.

Eastern built the lead to 10, but they were never able to stretch the advantage further as the Cougars converted 18-19 second-half free throws to keep within striking distance. Misericordia carved the deficit to 46-44 with seven minutes to play on a Hannah Seely lay-up, but the Eagles answered with two free throws and another inside basket from Nowak to push the lead back to 50-44.

Marks split a pair of free throws with 4:20 on the clock and then picked up her fifth foul guarding Nowak at the other end. The Eagles might have relaxed a bit after Nowak hit the pair to go up seven, and Hannah Seely and Jesse Robinson combined for ten points to pull within one with 25 seconds to play. 

Jones made two free throws to give the Eagles their final points of the game. McDaniel converted a lay-up with time running out.

"I think Meghan showed a lot of what she can do today," Davis said of his freshman standout, "She scored a very efficient 30 points (11-16 shooting), she grabbed 12 rebounds, a couple steals, and a big block. She has the benefit of having some good veteran players around her to settle things down, but she really does a lot of things very well."

Nowak has 275 points in her first 13 games, and she is now leading the Freedom Conference in scoring with a 21.2 point per game average. Jones finished with 16 points, seven assists, and three steals. Davis also noted the job done by Lori Wileczek and Katie Lincoln in limiting McDaniel, the Cougars' second leading scorer to just seven points. Seely led Misericordia with 19 points and Robinson had 16. Marks finished with nine points and four rebounds.

Eastern travels to King's College on Saturday for a match-up of the top two teams in the league.