SCRANTON, Pa.--Eastern University Women's Basketball came up four points short on the second day of the Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Invitational on Thursday.
The Eagles (7-3) fell to the Richard Stockton College Ospreys (8-3) 65-61 despite holding a six-point lead at halftime.
Eagles' forward Meghan Nowak scored 24 points, a game-high, and pulled down 10 rebounds. Nowak shot 7-for-14 from the floor with two 3-pointers and hit all eight of her free throws. She scored 17 of her points in the first half.
Emily Lavin also recorded a double-double for the Eagles. The sophomore forward contributed 11 points and 11 boards.
Kaitlyn Dougherty scored 12 points for the Eagles, 10 in the second half.
Stockton had three players with double-digit points: Sara Farrell (19), Lauren Alwan (14) and Alex Nardoza (13).
Stockton forward Sasha Williams proved to be a menace in the paint. Williams, a freshman who is second in the nation in blocked shots per game (5.89), boosted her average with seven blocks on Thursday. The freshman finished shy of a triple-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
For the second game in a row, the Eagles shot exactly 50 percent from the floor in the first half but wavered significantly in the second half, shooting just 29 percent (9-for-31). The Ospreys came out of the locker room hot and went on a 10-0 run to erase Eastern's six-point lead. The lead changed hands seven times in the second half as the Eagles fought to regain control.
Amanda Riiff came in off Eastern's bench and knocked down an important 3-pointer from the corner with 5:04 remaining to tie the game at 52-52. The Eagles' bench out-scored the Osprey's bench 23-9.
After Riiff's 3-pointer, the Ospreys earned what ended up being a four-point play; after making a free throw and missing the second, Scranton's Alex Nardoza got her own rebound, made the layup, drew the foul and hit the resulting free throw making it 56-52.
The Eagles tied the game at 56-56 after a Lavin layup and two free throws by Nowak with 3:16 remaining.
Scranton stretched the lead to four points again with 34 seconds remaining, but Dougherty hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to make it a one-point game. Scranton only hit one free throw on the next possession, but Eastern couldn't capitalize, and Scranton held on for the 65-61 win.
Eastern travels to San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday morning. They'll face the No. 10 team in Division III, Williams College on Saturday and then the University of Puerto Rico San Piedras on Monday.
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