ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - In the first-ever meeting between the two schools on Wednesday night at the NEST, Eastern Women's Basketball dropped a hard-fought, 56-44 decision to Catholic. The Eagles held a 27-20 lead at halftime, but untimely turnovers and offensive struggles in the second half proved to be the difference. The Cardinals outscored Eastern 36-17 in the second half to secure the 12-point triumph.
After the two teams played to a 5-5 tie early in the first quarter, the Eagles used a 12-2 scoring run to take a game-high nine point lead with 2:01 remaining in the frame.
Kayla Worsley-Wooten began the run with a a pair of triples, and
Kayla Jefferson followed with a three of her own to put the Eagles up 15-6. After the Cardinals knocked down a pair of free throws,
Wynter Bess capped off Eastern's surge with a jumper in the paint. Catholic scored the last three points of the quarter, but the Eagles headed into the second frame with a 17-12 advantage.
The Cardinals cut the Eastern lead to 18-14 early in the period, and a Catholic triple after a long scoring drought made it 18-17 with 5:46 to play in the first half. Eastern increased their advantage back to six on Worsley-Wooten's third triple and
Taryn Woodson's first field goal, and back-to-back field goals from Woodson in the final 2:30 put the Eagles up 27-20 at the halftime break.
The two teams continued to battle in the second half as Catholic chipped away at Eastern's advantage. After Worsley-Wooten scored to make it 29-22, the Cardinals used a 14-5 over a near five-minute span to turn their seven-point deficit into a two-point lead. Catholic took a 38-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Eagles were unable to regain the lead, getting as close as one point, but the Cardinals were able to keep Eastern at bay with their defense and their free throw shooting. Eastern turned the ball over 15 times in the second half and eight times in the fourth quarter, and Catholic shot 10-of-12 from the charity stripe. Additionally, the Cardinals scored 22 points off of Eastern's giveaways.
Despite the loss, Eastern Head Coach
Eric Houston liked a lot of what he saw from his young team, particularly in the first two quarters.
"We kept the game exactly where we wanted it at, but unfortunately we didn't score in the third and fourth quarters. We hit a wall," Houston said. "We're right there. We just kept turning the ball over in the second half, and they converted. But for us to compete against a team in the national conversation, that says a lot about our team."
Woodson played her best game of the young season, recording her second double-double in a row. The sophomore from Harrisburg finished with 17 points on seven-of-11 shooting to go along with a team-best 11 rebounds. Worsley-Wooten finished the contest with 11 points and four rebounds, while Bess ended the game with eight points, three steals, and three boards.
Eastern will be back at the NEST this coming Saturday for its MAC Commonwealth opener against York. The contest is set to begin at 1:00 pm.
