ABINGTON, Pa. - In its season opener on Wednesday evening, Eastern Women's Basketball earned a 76-55 win over Penn State Abington to begin the 2022-2023 campaign. Four Eagles finished in double figures, and the Eastern bench scored 40 points in the victory. 

First-year guard Jeriyah Johnson and fellow first-year forward Ebony Johnson played strong basketball in their collegiate debuts. Jeriyah Johnson led the Eagles with 20 points off the bench on eight-of-18 shooting from the floor, while Ebony Johnson scored 18 points on seven-of-eight shooting and four-of-eight from the charity stripe. Additionally, Johnson led Eastern with nine rebounds. Sophomore center Taryn Woodson began her second season with a 14-point effort, while sophomore transfer Kayla Worsley-Wooten rounded out Eastern's double-digit scorers with 11 points. 

The Eagles started quickly as Worsley-Wooten hit a pair of threes on the first two offensive possessions to give Eastern a 6-0 advantage. The Nittany Lions battled their way back, tying the contest at 10-10 with 3:09 to play in the first quarter. A pair of Ebony Johnson free throws put Eastern up 12-10, but PSU Abington outscored the Eagles 9-3 in the remainder of the quarter to grab a 19-15 advantage. 

However, Eastern dominated the second quarter as they turned a four-point deficit into an eight-point halftime lead. The Eagles outscored the Nittany Lions 23-11 in the frame and shot a robust 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from the field. Jeriyah Johnson scored 10 of her 20 points in the second frame, and Ebony Johnson's layup at the 3:09 mark gave Eastern the lead for good. At the half, the Eagles held a 38-30 advantage. 

The Nittany Lions had a brief offensive spurt early in the third quarter, trimming the Eastern advantage to four, but the Eagles would not allow PSU Abington to draw any closer. Layups by Woodson and Jeriyah Johnson on back-to-back possessions put the Eagles up by eight at the 6:09 mark, and a free throw by Woodson with 3:41 remaining in the period increased Eastern's advantage to double digits. 

The Eagles never trailed by less than 17 points the rest of the second half, and led by as many as 22 points before settling for the 21-point victory. 

"The first half was rocky. We turned the ball over way too much and we were sloppy. But we were much better in the second half," Eastern Head Coach Eric Houston said. "We made the adjustments and our freshmen stepped up. It was a great team win, and we have a lot to build on heading into our game with Cabrini next Tuesday." 

As a team, the Eagles shot 29-of-62 (46.8 percent) from the field and seven-of-21 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc. Eastern was also stout defensively, forcing 33 Nittany Lion turnovers and recording 17 steals. 

The Eagles will host Eagle Road Rival Cabrini this coming Tuesday, Nov. 15, at the NEST. The contest is set to tip off at 6:00 pm.