ST. DAVIDS, Pa.-- Entering this evening's Freedom Conference contest against a young and athletic FDU-Florham team, Eastern Women's Basketball Head Coach Nate Davis preached ball security to his team. The Eagles took great care of the ball early. They built a 19-4 lead before their second turnover and held on for an 84-68 win. Meghan Nowak finished with 24 points and a career-best 18 rebounds to pace the Eagles.

FDU sophomore center Melissa DeHaas scored an inside bucket to tie the score at 4-4 before the Eagles exploded for 15 straight points. Nowak scored five points in the run, and Bekah Roland, who scored 17 of her 20 points before half, had seven points. 

Eastern would stretch the lead to 21 on a Katie Lincoln triple with four and a half minutes left before the FDU pressure began to take effect and create chances for the guests. FDU-Florham (7-9, 1-4 Freedom)entered this evening's contest forcing nearly 30 turnovers an outing. Their defense forced nine giveaways in the final seven minutes to close the gap to 45-31 at intermission.

The Eagles were dominant inside in the early going as Roland and Nowak took advantage of their height and skill in the paint. Nowak had 15 points and seven rebounds on only nine shots. Roland had 17 and three rebounds to lead all scorers at the break. 

Nowak talked about a change in plans for playing against a constant pressure team like the Devils.

"We really tried to work on rebounding the ball first," she said. "We liked to transition a lot and get easy buckets, but we tried to slow that down and make sure that we got the pass off first before turning the ball over. We worked on forcing it inside because they were smaller than us. So Bekah and I could really take it to the bucket a lot."

The Eagles, who shot 54% in the opening half, struggled from the floor after halftime, but a 14-19 effort from the foul line and solid defense helped the Eagles to hold a 21 point edge with two minutes to play. Nowak, who dealt with double teams the entire second half, did her work on the glass. 

"I was really surprised when I saw it," Head Coach Nate Davis said of Nowak's 18 rebound effort, "but then when I thought back it made sense. She did a really good job on both ends of the court."

The match-up between the two highest scoring freshmen in the Freedom Conference went to Nowak. FDu's Kyra Dayon had a team-high 13 points, six rebounds, and a pair of spectacular blocked shots, but she was unable to match Nowak's efficiency. Eastern's first year standout is shooting 58% from the floor and nearly 46% from behind the arc.

Shante Jones scored a quiet 12 points with five rebounds and four steals. Her presence with the basketball proved invaluable in stopping runs in the second half.

"We have some things to work on," Davis stated, "but tonight's game gave us some very unique challenges and we met them." 

Roland's 20-point effort was the fourth 20+ point game of the season for the senior forward. Nowak topped the 20 point mark for the eighth time. It is her seventh double-double of the year. Kaitlyn Dougherty scored 10 points off the bench. 

The Eagles (12-4, 4-1 Freedom) return to action at DeSales in a critical Freedom Conference test this Saturday.