RADNOR, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Basketball rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to earn a hard-fought 52-50 win over the Arcadia University Knights in the final game of the Cabrini University Classic. Da'Naziah Brown capped a the 18-to-6 game-ending run with a steal and a score for the final margin. Minika Glenn scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Eagles.

How It Happened:
With Head Coach Eric Houston away for the birth of his son, long-time assistant Tom Dillard had the responsibility for guiding the Eagles in their final game of 2019. After running up-and-back in a high-scoring loss to rowan last night, the Eagles came into the game today committed to controlling tempo and eliminating transition opportunities.

That plan worked to perfection early. The Eagles held the Knights to 1-for-10 shooting in the first period and only 22 percent shooting over the first 20 minutes. With Glenn attacking the basket and the Eagles taking care of the ball, Eastern held a 25-18 lead at the break. Glenn led all scorers with 11 points at the intermission.

The Knights (8-5) found their rhythm in the third. After scoring only a single point in the first half, leading scorer Taylor Dunn scored six points in the frame and Arcadia led 32-31 with ten minutes to play. The Arcadia lead grew to 44-34 with a 12-to-3 run in the first three and a half minutes of the fourth. Jaelyn Harris scored the only Eastern basket as Glenn sat with foul trouble.

It was a drive by Harris that turned the tide. With the shot clock winding down and the Knights over-playing the jump shot, Harris put the ball on the floor and beat the buzzer with a scoop shot to close the gap to eight points with a little more than five minutes to play. After a stop at the other end,t he Eagles again found themselves on the perimeter with the shot clock drifting toward zero. MaryKate McLaughlin put the ball on the floor and made a strong move to the hoop. The junior forward hit the first free throw and Kay Wulah grabbed the miss of the second and put it awy to pull within five.

The Knights made a free throw and the Eagles answered with three free throws to close the gap to 45-42. Brynn Schmidt took a charge on the defensive end and Wulah finished inside to pull to within a point with three minutes to play. After an Arcadia basket stretched the lead to three, the Eagles ran a perfect set out of a timeout for a 3-pointer for Brown. The junior guard splashed in her second 3-pointer of the game to tie the score at 47-47.

The Eagles forced another turnover and Schmidt found a cutting Glenn for a lay-up to go up two, but Dunn answered with a 3-pointer to give the Knights the lead with less than two minutes to play. Glenn split a pair of free throws to tie the game, but teh Knights had the ball on the sideline with 19 seconds and no shot clock and the score tied 50-50. With Glenn Pressing the ball, Brown tipped the inbounds pass and out-raced the Knights for the ball and a go-ahead lay-up. Arcadia took another timeout and Schmidt came up with another big defensive play by taking a charge on the ensuing inbounds pass.

Brown finished the game with 10 points and five rebounds. As important, she had only a single turnover as the primary ball-handler. The Eagles finished the game with ony ten turnovers. Wulah had eight points, ten rebounds and six blocked shots. Julia Makowski had 16 points to lead Arcadia. Dunn had 13.

Coach Dillard Said:
"We, as a team, wanted to win this one for Coach Eric since her couldn't be on the sideline today. I'm proud of our team for fighting and battling through the adversity of being down later in the game. We never let each other get too high or too low and we stayed determined and focus to execute and win the game."

"I want to commend players like Brynn and Naomi, who played their role. We were much better taking care of the ball and at the defensive end today. They stepped up when needed and helped us in crucial moments.

"We relied on various players at certain times, both Minika and Da'Naziah carried us at times on the offensive end. Both played a big role in helping us to get defensive stops. They played huge today. Kay had a big game that may not have been picked up just watching the game. She was dominant on the boards and commanding attention on the block. She made huge plays in the big moments of the game."

Up Next:
The Eagles are back in action at York on Friday