RADNOR, PA. - Eastern Women's Basketball suffered a double loss this afternoon losing Emily Lavin to an apparent ankle injury while falling to undefeated Rowan University, 74-65, in the first game of the Cabrini Holiday Classic. Taylor Price was the lone bright spot in an otherwise tough afternoon for the Eagles posting a double-double scoring 19 points while grabbing ten rebounds. 

"Words can't describe what that kid [Price] does every day," said Head Coach Eric Houston. "It's unfortunate from the standpoint that she did everything she could do and at the end she got gassed. At the end of the game, I was trying to find ways to at least give her a rest, but she came over to me and said to me 'I want to finish it out' and if she's going to fight she's going to fight going out on top. She showed her fight and competitive edge today as far as pushing through adversity." 

The Eagles (7-3) struggled from the start falling behind 19-8 by the end of the first quarter. Rowan (11-0) forced nine Eastern turnovers in the opening quarter and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds to Eastern's four. The Eagles also went 4-of-16 from the field in the first quarter shooting (.250) and hit zero out of three 3-pointers. However, despite all of that Eastern was down just 13-8 with 32 seconds left before the Profs hit back-to-back 3-pointers to close out the quarter. 

"We need to play with more heart and just can't get behind in the first, second, and third quarter and try to figure it out in the fourth," continued Houston. "It just hurts right now because we could have had that game."  

Eastern outplayed Rowan in the third quarter outscoring the Profs, 21-15, and only trailed 56-49 heading into the fourth quarter. Everything was looking great until the 2:03 mark hit and that's when it drastically changed. Off a missed shot by Rowan Lavin went up to try and corral a rebound but came down awkwardly on her right ankle. Lavin managed to walk off the court under her own power and after a few minutes on the sideline was subbed back into the game for the fourth quarter. It was not meant to be and after a short stint on the court, Lavin limped to the bench where she spent the rest of the game. 

"As for right now I don't know what's wrong with her [Lavin] ankle," continued Houston. "I know it's an ankle injury, but I don't know how bad it is. However, the one thing is that me being her coach these games are important but at the end of the day, her health is more important. We made the decision to sit her down even though she said she could play. As far as her injury is concerned it is next man up mentality and with the ladies we have, I think we'll be okay for tomorrow."  

Lavin finished the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds posting her sixth double-double of the season. Amanda Riff netted 11 points to finish the game as the Eagles third leading scorer. 

Kate Matthews led all Rowan scorers with 17 points and 17 rebounds. Anyssa Sanchez scored 11 points while Kaitlin Schullstrom netted ten points to round out the double-digit scorers for the Profs. 

Eastern will take on Widener tomorrow afternoon at 12 pm.

"You win some, and you lose some, and that's part of the game of basketball and we look at it as another opponent we have to get ready for," concluded Houston.