DALLAS, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Basketball dropped a tough, 67-52, decision at Misericordia University. Down 18 to start the fourth quarter, the shorthanded Eagles (3-10, 0-3 MAC Freedom) battled to within 56-48 before the Cougars closed out the game on a 13-to-4 run.

Da'Naziah Brown started the Eastern rally with a lay-up to cut the deficit to 56-41. The Eagles then used good ball movement to find a pair of open looks in the paint for Brianna Young-Harris and Maya-Harris, and Amanda Riiff capped the run with a 3-pointer.

"We played with a lot of energy in that stretch." Head Coach Eric Houston said of the run. "That energy carried over to the offensive end and we hit shots."

The Eagles had a chance to cut the deficit to six, but the Cougars (8-5, 1-1 MAC Freedom) were awarded possession on a held ball and the game swung the other way.

The Eagles, playing without an injured Regie Robinson battled through  tightly contested first quarter, and had the ball down 14-13 with 12 seconds left in the period. The Cougars came up with a critical steal and hit a lay-up with three seconds to play to start an 8-0 run.

The Cougars led 34-24 at halftime. Young-Harris scored half of her game-high sixteen points in the first half.  

The Eagles made only 23-of-59 field goals and 4-of-20 3-pointers in the game.

"We are fighting back in every game," Houston added, " but we have to do little things right to finish the job. We played some really good defense initially, but when you give up 23 offensive rebounds, you have to play a that much more defense."

Maya Harris scored a career-high 12 points.

The Eagles will host Wilkes at 1:00 PM on Saturday.