DALLAS, Pa. - Eastern Women's Basketball claimed a crucial and huge 83-58 victory over Misericordia on Wednesday night. The Eagles held the Cougars to a 17-of-54 shooting performance from the field and used a 22-8 fourth quarter to help earn the win. 

"We played great team defense tonight," said Head Coach Eric Houston. "I am very proud of how aggressive these ladies were tonight and how they dictated the tone of the game from the opening tap." 

Leading only by 11, 61-50, at the start of the fourth quarter Eastern (12-12, 6-7 MAC Freedom) used a 17-4 run to prevent any hope of a comeback by Misericordia (7-17, 3-10 MAC Freedom). Amanda Riiff hit three 3-pointers in the quarter to help the Eagles build their largest lead of the game, 81-56, with just over a minute left to play. Eastern also held the Cougars to going 1-of-13 from the field in the fourth scoring only on a 3-pointer while the remaining five points came from the free-throw line.  

"That was a great quarter of basketball to watch," continued Houston. "From the opening second of the quarter, we controlled the tempo and forced them to make mistakes throughout. Riiff I thought played outstanding, hitting those 3-pointers and even making some plays on the defensive end."  

Eastern opened the game with a 9-1 run before Misericordia cut the deficit to just four at 11-7. The Eagles closed out the quarter with a 10-3 run to lead 21-10 after one. Regie Robinson tallied six of the ten points during the scoring spree.  

The Eagles only let the Cougars pull back within single digits for the remainder of the game, and that was on the first basket of the quarter when they cut the deficit to nine at 21-12. Emily Lavin hit a layup on the ensuing Eastern possession to spark a 19-12 run to close out the quarter to take a 16 point, 40-24, lead into the locker room. 

Overall the Eagles forced Misericordia to go 8-of-28 from the field in the first half shooting (.286). Meanwhile, Eastern went 19-of-33 from the field shooting (.576). 

In the third quarter, the Eagles stretched their lead all the way to 20 at 55-35 after Tori Grossi knocked down a 3-pointer at the 4:23 mark of the quarter. Misericordia closed out the third with a 15-6 run to cut the Eastern lead to just 11 at 61-50 heading into the final quarter of play. The Eagles would run away with the game in the fourth to leave with the big MAC Freedom win and stay in the playoff race. 

Robinson scored a game-high 25 points while going 11-of-15 from the field shooting (.733) for the game. Riiff scored 16 points of her own going 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Taylor Price and Grossi rounded out the scoring netting 13 and 12 points respectively. As a team, Eastern went 34-of-57 from the field shooting (.596) while going 8-of-16 from 3-point range. 

"They all worked together tonight to help get this win," concluded Houston. "We battled hard, and the results speak for themselves. I could not be any more proud of this team than I am right now. We have one game left, and we are going to play like we have one game left. We can't control what other teams do in terms of the playoffs but we can control was Eastern does and that's what we are going to focus on. "

Liz Waleski led all Misericordia scorers with 14 points. Jaclyn Hajec and Justine Seely rounded out the double-digit scoring with 13 and 12 points respectively. 

Eastern hosts DeSales on February 20th in the season finale at 1 pm.