ORLANDO--Eastern Women's Basketball faced a difficult matchup on Friday evening in the opening game of the RDV Sportsplex D3 Basketball Classic.

The Eagles challenged Hope College, the No. 2 team in the nation, and fell by a final score of 74-61.

After falling behind by as much as 26 points with 10 minutes to go, the Eagles cut that deficit in half by the game's end.

Eastern kept with the Hope College Flying Dutch through the beginning of the first half thanks in part to a solid first-half performance by junior guard Kaitlyn Dougherty. Dougherty created scoring opportunities, working her way to the hoop for 14 first-half points. Dougherty finished with a team-high 16 points and shot 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Junior Gina DiDomenico finished with 12 points, 11 in the second half. Forwards Emily Lavin and Meghan Nowak added nine points and eight points, respectively. 

The Eagles kept pace with the Dutch through the first 15 minutes of the game. With 7:06 on the clock, freshman point guard Emily McPeak finished a strong take from the left-side of the lane to bring Eastern within four points. Then the Eagles forced a Dutch turnover and came back down the court with Dougherty finishing a mid-range jumper to put Eastern within two points, 23-21. From that point, the Dutch shooting heated up and they went on a 20-7 run to close out the half.

The Dutch lead escalated to 26 points midway through the second half, but the Eagles chipped away at that lead, coming within 13 points at the end of regulation.

The Eagles finished the game shooting better than the Dutch from the floor, hitting 47.1 percent of their shots compared to the Dutch's 39.7 percent. However, turnovers and second-chance opportunities-allowed hurt the Eagles. While the Eagles did force 21 Hope turnovers, they committed 28 turnovers of their own and conceded 20 second-chance points on 15 offensive rebounds by a tall Hope College team.

Center Rebekah Llorens led Hope with 18 points.  

The Eagles will face Mt. Aloysius College in the tournament's consolation game at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 

The tournament is hosted by Hope College (from Holland, Mich.) at the practice facility of the NBA's Orlando Magic. The connection between the Michigan school and the Florida tournament is that the chairman of the Orlando Magic is Richard DeVos, a longtime supporter of Hope College.