ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - Eastern Women's Basketball opened its conference season on Wednesday with a tough 65-39 loss to the York Spartans at the NEST. The Eagles struggled on the offensive end throughout the evening, shooting just 20 percent, 12-of-60, from the field. Conversely, the Spartans (3-9, 1-0) shot a robust 46 percent as Breanna Grim and Makenna Zimmerman combined to score 35 points.

Senior guard Jeriyah Johnson opened the Eastern scoring with a three-pointer, but that was the lone field goal for the Eagles in the first period. Eastern missed its final 11 shots as the Spartans outscored the Eagles 16-1 the reminder of the frame.

The Eagles battled back in the second quarter with a 9-2 run to trim the York lead to 18-13 with 4:20 remaining. That was close as Eastern would get, however, as the Spartans ended the half on a 8-3 surge to take a 26-16 lead into the halftime break.

The Spartans pulled away in the third quarter, shooting eight-of-12 from the field and outscoring the Eagles 22-9 to take a 23-point advantage into the final frame. York held their double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Johnson led the Eagles with 13 points. Ariyana Hester scored nine off the bench on three triples. Madeline Wylie finished the evening with six points, knocking down four of her six free throws, and Adriana Summersett added five.

Eastern (5-7, 0-1) returns home on Saturday to face off against Albright at 1:00 pm.