St. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Women's basketball suffered a heartbreaking loss as the visiting King's College Monarchs scored the final six points of the game to claim a 61-58 win in the opening game of the MAC Freedom schedule for both teams. Minika Glenn led the Eagles with 23 points and nine rebounds.

How It Happened:
Both teams jumped out of the gate quickly. The Monarchs shot 50 percent from the floor in the first quarter and the Eagles made 8-of-12 shots on the way to a 20-20 after ten minutes. Neither team led by more than three points in the end-to-end battle.

The second quarter, however, looked like two different teams. Both squads dug in defensively and the Eagles build a 26-22 lead with four minutes left in the half. The teams traded baskets thre rest of the way and Eastern took a 32-28 lead to the locker room. Glenn hit 5-of-8 from the floor and led all scorers with 15 at the half. Rebecca Prociak led the Monarchs with nine and Mackenzie Yori had eight.

The Eagles seemed poised to pull the game away with a  7-to-0 run to build a nine-point edge early in the third quarter. The Monarchs cut the lead to 45-42 before Kay Wulah converted inside on a pass from Glenn. The Eagles had a chance to stretch the lead further with a transition opportunity. Da'Naziah Brown made the basket, but was called for a charge. Yori hit a 3-pointer and Sam Rajza split a pair of free throws to close the Eastern lead to 48-46 after three quarters.

After the Monarchs tied the game on a pair of Prociak free throws, Brown connected on a 3-pointer to put the Eagles up 51-48 with nine minutes to play. After the Monarchs rallied to grab a 55-53 lead, the Eagles scored the next five points on an inside basket from Wulah and a 3-pointer from Glenn. Though they held the Monarchs to only six points in the stretch, the Eagles were not able to score in the final four and a half minutes. Even down three late, the Eagles had a long 3-point attempt to try to tie the game at the buzzer.

Wulah and Viki Kneis each finished with eight points and Jaelyn Harris had nine. Kneis finished with a team-best 11 rebounds. Prociak finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. Yori was 3-for-3 from behind the arc to finish with 20.

Coach Houston Says:
"There was a lot of good in this game. We put ourselves in a position to win, but we did not execute down the stretch. We have to learn from this and go forward. We were aggressive attacking the basket early in the game and were able to get shots. We need to keep that aggressiveness throughout. We have to bounce back for Saturday."

Up Next:
The Eagles (5-7, 0-1) are at Delaware Valley on Saturday. They split the season series with Delaware Valley last year.