ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– With their final exams in the rear-view mirror, Eastern University Women's Basketball dropped a 63-42 home decision against the Neumann University Knights.
Maiah Madison scored a career-high 12 points to pace the Eagles.
The Eagles trailed by a single point at 13-12 when
Mojisola Shokeye hit a 3-pointer to open the second quarter, but the Knights (6-4) grabbed control of the game with a 17-to-1 run over a six-minute stretch. Neumann forward Lauren Klieber, who reached 1,500 career points on her first basket of the game, made a pair of 3-pointers in the burst. The senior standout finished the day with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocked shots.
Kendall Williams snapped the Neumann run with a 3-pointer from the wing, and
Damiyae Moyet finished a put-back basket to close the gap to 12 with 96 seconds to play, but the Knights had an answer with a 3-pointer from Emily DuPont to close out the scoring for the half.
The Eagles made only 7-of-29 first-half shots, but kept within striking distance with solid defense and eight offensive rebounds. Neumann made 4-of-6 from deep in the second quarter and shot 48.3 percent for the half. DuPont led all scorers with nine points at halftime.
Madison scored six points in an extended 8-to-4 run over the the first six minutes of the second half, but the Eagles could not take advantage of a stretch where the Knights made only 2-of-10 shots. Klieber sparked a 9-to-0 run to put the Knights up 20 before
Jeriyah Johnson scored at the buzzer to close the deficit to 46-28.
The Knights stretched their lead to 61-30 before the Eagles closed the game on a 12-to-2 run. Moyet scored nine points in the burst to record her second double-digit scoring effort of the year. She finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and three steals.
The Eagles had four different players connect on 3-pointers but shot only 17-of-59 from the floor. The two teams shot 12 total free throws. Neumann made 3-of-4, and the Eagles made 4-of-8.
The Eagles (0-9) will host Penn State Brandywine on Saturday at 1:00 PM. Eastern has won the last 11 meetings against the Lions.
