ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—Eastern Women's Basketball held off the King's College Monarchs 69-66 on Thursday evening.

Eastern improved to 12-8 on the year and 7-2 in the Freedom Conference.

Eagles' guard Kaitlyn Dougherty led the Eagles' offense with 25 points, tied for her career best.

Meghan Nowak contributed 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting and had five rebounds and three steals. Emily Lavin pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked three shots. Gina DiDomenico added eight points and four assists. 

The Monarchs relied on their outside shooting to stick with the Eagles. The Monarchs sunk 13-of-28 3-pointers (46.4 percent). From inside the arc, King's shot just 9-of-28 (32.1 percent).

Kayla Feairheller and Jessica McHugh led the Monarchs with 16 points each.

The Monarchs' long-range attack was much improved from their earlier meeting this season when they shot just 3-for-29 from deep. Eastern won that January contest by a much more comfortable margin, 65-50.

Eight minutes into Thursday night's game, the Eagles trailed by eight points but rallied for an 11-0 run over the next 3 1/2 minutes with layups from Nowak (two of them), Bethany Zimmerman, DiDomenico and a 3-pointer by Emily Carmel. 

The Eagles worked up a six-point lead by halftime. DiDomenico's steal and transition layup with four seconds left put Eastern in command 33-27 going into the locker room. 

The Eagles' lead disappeared with 10 minutes left in the game after the Monarchs continued to hit 3-pointers. Both teams traded baskets over the next four minutes and the score was tied at 56-56 with 6:00 to play.

The Eagles finally broke away from the Monarchs with Dougherty cutting through the lane and completing a successful 3-point play on the layup and-one with 5:43 to go. 

Dougherty scored nine of the Eagles final 13 points. She found Meghan Nowak in the lane with a brilliant no-look pass with 3:26 left to put Eastern ahead 63-60. Nowak then took an interception all the way to the basket for a fastbreak layup to put Eastern up 65-60. Dougherty made it a 7-point lead after another mid-range jumpshot with 2:09 to go.

King's cut Eastern's lead to 67-64 with 1:05 remaining after a 3-pointer by Jessica McHugh, but Dougherty hit two free throws with eight seconds left to seal the game for the Eagles.

The Eagles out-rebounded the Monarchs 43-32 and out-shot them 42.2 percent to 39.3 percent overall.

Eastern travels to Delaware Valley College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. game.

Box Score