ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - In a thrilling affair on Saturday afternoon at The NEST,
Jeriyah Johnson closed out the fall semester home schedule with a bang. With 0.6 seconds left in regulation, the junior guard hit a turnaround, fallaway three off the inbound to lift the Eagles to a 67-64 triumph, their first of the season.
The win also marked career-best performances for juniors
Stephanie White and
Damiyae Moyet. Moyet recorded her first collegiate double-double with a career-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. She also hit a career-best six three-point field goal attempts. White played a fantastic game off the bench with a career-high 15 points on seven-of-nine shooting.
Mojisola Shokeye also finished with Eastern career highs in points with nine and rebounds with 11.
Trinity Upton nearly had a triple double with six points, nine rebounds, and a team-high 10 assists.
The Eagles got off to a strong start, building a 9-4 lead in the first three minutes and a 13-8 advantage in the first five. Moyet scored five points in the opening five minutes. The Lions were able to tie it up at 13, before Moyet's second three put the Eagles back ahead by three points.
The offense went ice cold the rest of the first quarter and into the second. From the 3:32 of the first quarter to the 6:17 mark of the second, the Eagles were outscored 17-3 and saw their three-point lead turn into an 11-point deficit.
Eastern's offense began to find its rhythm after that. Another Moyet three cut the Penn State advantage to eight points, and a pair of baskets from Shokeye trimmed the Eagles' deficit to three. Penn State's Trinell Watson pushed the Lions' advantage back to six with a three-pointer, but another triple from Moyet and a layup from Madision with four seconds to play in the half made it 36-34 Penn State the halftime break. After falling behind 30-19, the Eagles outscored the Lions 15-6 the rest of the first half.
Shokeye opened the third quarter with a jumper to tie the game at 36, and Moyet's fifth three of the game put the Eagles ahead 39-38. Eastern held off the Lions throughout the period with timely baskets, and Moyet hit a buzzer beater of her own to end the third quarter and put the Eagles ahead 55-50.
Johnson's game-winning heroics capped off a wild fourth quarter in which the lead changed hands five times. With the game tied at 58-58 with 4:13 to play, White hit a jumper to give the Eagles the lead, but Penn State quickly tied it back up on a layup from Watson. The junior guard led all scorers with 29 points.
After a free throw gave Penn State the lead, White put the Eagles back ahead again briefly before Penn State grabbed a 63-62 advantage on a Aniaiyah Allen layup with 90 seconds to play. A few moments later, Johnson notched a steal at half-court and scored in transition to put the Eagles up 64-63, but Watson tied it back up at 64 with a free throw, setting up Johnson's eventual game winner. With three seconds on the clock, Upton was fouled, stopping the clock at 0.8 seconds. White went on to inbound the ball to Johnson, who got the shot off in time while falling sideways and hit nothing but twine, to lift the Eagles to a thrilling triumph.
"It was great to see an incredible team effort today, and an exciting end to the game," Eastern Head Coach
Sarah Fowler said. "We out rebounded them and really gutted it out. It is a great win going into Christmas break."
Eastern shot 27-of-66 from the field, good for 40.9 percent, while out rebounding the Lions by a 50-41 margin. The Eagles recorded 22 assists on 27 made field goals while also recording six steals and forcing 10 turnovers.
The Eagles (1-9) will be off until the New Year. They will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 4 against Kean. Tip-off is set for 1:00 pm.
