ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - Eastern Women's Basketball held a nine-point lead with 5:35 to go in the third quarter in its MAC Commonwealth opener on Wednesday evening against the Stevenson Mustangs. The Mustangs took the game over from there, using a 26-11 run over the final 13:51 to hand the Eagles a 56-47 loss. During the run, Stevenson shot 11-of-20 from the floor, while the Eagles made just three of their last 17 field goal attempts.

The first quarter was back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than three points. Junior guard Jeriyah Johnson controlled the pace offensively, scoring 10 of the Eagles's 14 points and her team-leading 21 points in the opening frame. Stevenson took a 16-14 lead into the second quarter.

The Eagles played their best basketball in the second frame. They outscored the Mustangs 13-8 in the frame. Trinity Upton tied the game at 18-18 on a pair of back-to-back jumpers, and first-year guard Amelia Leister followed with a jumper from the corner to put the Eagles ahead 20-18. Both teams continued to battle, and the Mustangs eventually cut the advantage to 25-24, but a pair of free throws from Damiyae Moyet at the 2:53 mark put the Eagles ahead 27-24 at halftime.

The Eagles came out of the break and quickly increased their advantage to six on an Upton three-pointer 10 seconds into the third quarter. Upton had another solid, all-around game with seven points and four rebounds. After the Mustangs cut the lead to two, the Eagles used a 9-0 run to go up 39-30. Johnson started the run with a layup in the paint, and after a Stephanie White jumper, ended the run with a triple.

From that moment, the Mustangs (6-6, 1-0) clawed their way back into the game. With 50 seconds left in the frame, a Maiah Madison free throw pushed the Eagles lead back to six, but Stevenson's Elia Richardson hit a jumper in the final 30 seconds to make it 41-37 Eastern heading into the final frame.

The Mustangs controlled the fourth quarter, outscoring the Eagles 19-6 and shooting eight-of-13 (61.54 percent) from the field. Janiya Ennis tied the game at the 9:09 mark, and Erin Dixon gave the Mustangs their first lead since the first half on the following possession. Moyet briefly gave the Eagles the lead back with a triple, but another made jumper by Ennis put the Mustangs ahead for good. Nadia Ferguson put the game on ice in the final three minutes, stealing the ball on back-to-back possessions and scoring a pair of layups to secure Stevenson's victory.

Emori Jeselskis led the Mustangs with 13 points in the contest, while Ferguson collected 11 points, four steals, two rebounds, and two steals off the Stevenson bench. 

Eastern (1-11, 0-1) will be on the road this weekend in York to take on the Spartans. Tip-off is set for 1:00 pm.