ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - In its home opener on Wednesday evening, an early offensive flurry lifted Eastern Women's Basketball to its first victory of the season, a 66-48 triumph over the Stockton Ospreys. The Eagles scored the first 17 points and never trailed at any point of the contest.
Jaelyn Harris started the scoring spree with a triple on the Eagles' second possession, putting Eastern's offense into an early groove. Taryn Woodson and Camila Sosa followed with a basket in the paint and a three, respectively, before back-to-back buckets from Ashya Gaddy increased Eastern's advantage to 12-0. After Mikayla Wright scored in the paint a few moments later, Harris closed out the scoring run with her second triple of the quarter, making it a 17-0 Eastern lead with 3:55 left in the period.
The Ospreys were held off the scoreboard for the first 6:30 of the contest, and the Eagles kept the pedal down throughout the remainder of the quarter. Sosa closed out the period with five straight points, including a jumper at the buzzer, to give the Eagles a commanding 24-5 advantage at the break. Eastern shot a scorching 10-of-15 (66.67 percent) in the first quarter, while holding the Ospreys to a paltry 1-of-12 (8.33 percent) from the floor.
Neither team scored until the 6:21 mark of the second quarter, but the Eagles' lead never dipped below 16 points. Eastern closed out the first half on a 9-2 run, which included another Sosa triple, to take a 37-14 lead into halftime.
The Eagles' advantage hovered between 18 and 24 points in the third quarter before the Ospreys began to make a push in the final stanza. Stockton began the frame with an 8-1 run, cutting the Eagles' lead to 13 points, but a Gaddy free throw and a Harris trey put the Eagles back ahead by 17. The Ospreys made another late push in the final two minutes, trimming their deficit to 12, but the Eagles hit seven of their final 10 free throws to secure the victory.
"We needed that one. We definitely needed that one," Eastern Head Coach Eric Houston said. "This one helps move them forward. We have to close out better, but I am happy we won the game so they can have some momentum moving forward."
Gaddy led the Eagles in scoring for the second time in three games, scoring 23 points on 4-of-5 shooting, 1-of-1 from beyond the arc, and 14-of-18 from the charity stripe. Sosa put together a strong performance of her own, scoring 14 points, including four triples, while Harris added nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Wright collected six points and led the team with 10 rebounds.
Eastern will travel to Arlington, Va. this weekend to take part in the Marymount Tournament. The Eagles will open tournament play on Friday evening against host Marymount beginning at 5:00 pm.
