UNION, N.J. - Despite a valiant battle throughout Saturday afternoon's clash, Eastern Women's Basketball opened 2025 with a 48-36 loss to the Kean Cougars. Kean (5-7) scored the first nine points of the ball game to take a lead they would not relinquish and outscored Eastern 14-7 in the final frame to hand the Eagles their 10th loss of the season. 

The Eagles shot just 23.5 percent from the field (12-of-51) and struggled to hang on to the ball, turning it over 25 times. The Cougars scored 23 of their 48 points off of Eastern giveaways. Fresh off her buzzer beater against Penn State Brandywine, junior guard Jeriyah Johnson led the Eagles with 11 points to go along with four assists and two rebounds. Fellor junior Damiyae Moyet continued her recent strong play with nine points, all of which came via the three-ball. Maiah Madison and Stephanie White each finished with six points and four rebounds, while Dominique Geiger collected three points and a team-high six boards off the bench. 

The Cougars set the tone early, building a 9-0 lead over the first seven minutes of the contest. Eastern missed its first eight shots of the game before White opened the Eastern scoring with a pair of free throws. The Eagles found life at the end of the frame, scoring the final eight points to make it a 9-8 Kean lead at the first quarter break. Madison scored a layup and Trinity Upton knocked down a free throw to cut the Cougars' advantage to 9-5, before Moyet knocked down a triple with 10 seconds left in the frame.

After a short lull offensively to begin the second quarter, back-to-back layups from Madison made it 14-12 Kean with 4:18 to play in the first half. The Eagles got to within one possession again on Moyet's second triple, but the Cougars got a free throw from Maddison Vaughn and a layup from Brittany Graff to take a 20-15 lead into the intermission.  Vaughn led all scorers with 22 points for the Cougars, while Graff was second with 13 points. 

Kean looked to pull away in the third quarter, leading by as a many as nine points on two occasions, but the Eagles continued to battle. After Vaughn put the Cougars ahead 29-21, the Eagles scored seven straight points on a pair of free throws from Johnson, a layup from Geiger, and Moyet's third three. That was as close as the Eagles would get the rest of the way. Graff hit a three to put the Cougars back ahead by four, and Vaughn added another layup with 1:05 to go in the frame. Geiger went one-of-two from the line in the final minute to make it a 34-29 Kean lead. 

The Cougars controlled the fourth quarter, giving up just seven Eastern points and building their lead to 12 at the final horn. 

Eastern (1-10) returns to St. Davids on Wednesday to begin MAC Commonwealth play against the Stevenson Mustangs. Tip-off at the NEST is scheduled for 5:00 pm.