MADISON, N.J.--Eastern University Women's Basketball dropped Wednesday night's contest to last year's national champions, the FDU-Florham Devils, 78-48.

The Devils, who have won 47 consecutive games, entered the game possessing the best turnover margin in the nation (+15) while forcing the most total turnovers, 381 (27.2 per game). The Eagles experienced first-hand just how intimidating that Devils' defense can be on Wednesday.

Pestered by FDU-Florham's constant full-court man-to-man and zone presses and in-your-face half-court defense, Eastern committed a season-high 28 turnovers. Those turnovers led directly to 29 FDU-Florham points. FDU-Florham, partly as a result of the forced turnovers, got to take 23 more field goal attempts than Eastern. Both teams shot about the same from the floor with Eastern making 18-of-48 shots and FDU hitting 28-of-71.

Meghan Nowak led the Eagles with 17 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Nowak shot 7-for-13 in the game. Her 17 points matched FDU's Kyra Dayon for the game high. Dayon only missed three times, slashing to the basketball often and finishing 8-for-11.
Emily Lavin added 12 points in the paint on 5-of-9 shooting. Lavin, a sophomore forward, collected eight rebounds and blocked four shots. Guards Kaitlyn Dougherty and Gina DiDomenico added a combined 13 points with seven and six respectively.

The Eagles trailed by just one with 7:47 remaining in the first half after two free throws by Lavin made it 17-16. The Devils however then went on a 9-0 run and held onto a 14-point at halftime.

The Devils really began to pull away in the game's final 10 minutes, outscoring the Eagles 22-8 down the stretch.

Eastern (10-4, 2-1 Freedom) looks to rebound from the road conference loss with a matchup at home on Saturday at 1 p.m. with King's College.

Box Score