MIAMI– Eastern University Women's Basketball outscored the Hartwick College Hawks 26-19 in the fourth quarter to pull away to a 68-60 win in their opening game at the Hoop MIA Division III Holiday Shootout.
Emily Lavin finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks to lead the Eagles.
The Eagles led by as many as 12 early int he second quarter, but the Hawks (3-5) road back with a 16-1 run to grab a five-point lead with 23 seconds left in the half. Lavin made a tough shot in traffic late in the period to close out the half with the Eagles trailing 29-26.
Eastern tied the game on an 18-foot jumper from
Taylor Price with a minute left in the third and then took the lead on a
Megan Bell free throw thirty seconds later.
Amanda Riiff put the Eagles up three with a runner in the paint on the Eagles first possession. The junior guard finished the the game with six points but had two critical baskets in the fourth.
"Riiff does a lot of things that you won't see on the stat sheet," said Head Coach
Eric Houston. "She did not shoot the ball well, but her leadership and decision-making is really critical down the stretch."
As they have for most of the season, the Eagles did a nice job closing out the game. In the critical fourth quarter, Eastern shot 7-of-12 from the floor and made 11-of-12 from the foul line. Lavin scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in the final quarter.
First-year guard
Kayla Holmes was 3-of-4 from the line down the stretch and had a beautiful dish to Lavin to put the Eagles up 58-51 with two minutes to play.
"This game came down to getting a few stops and picking our spots to push tempo," Houston said. "Kayla did a great job for us at both ends of the floor." Holmes finished with five points and three assists.
Taylor Price finished with a game-high 20 points and added seven rebounds and three assists, and
Regie Robinson battled foul-trouble but still scored 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor. She added nine rebounds and four blocks.
Emily Stone led Hartwick with 16 points.
The Eagles (7-2) will play against Lehman College on Wednesday in their final game in sunny South Florida.
