The Emory women’s basketball team split the weekend’s home games, beating Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) 66-52, but falling to Case Western Reserve University (Oh.) 62-76. The Eagles are now 10-6 overall, with a disappointing 1-4 record in University Athletic Association conference play.
The Eagles started the weekend off strong with a dominating win against the Carnegie Mellon.
After a three-pointer by Emory junior guard Fran Sweeney with 4:32 left in the second quarter gave the Eagles a 21-20 lead, the Eagles never gave up the lead. The Eagles won the contest with a clean perimeter game. The Eagles shot 25 for 68 from the field (36.8 percent) while CMU shot 21 for 50 (42 percent). The Eagles, however, sunk more three-point shots, shooting five for 15 (33.3%) as opposed to the Tartans’ three-point field goal percentage of 20%. The Eagles were able to capitalize on Carnegie Mellon’s 21 turnovers to pull out the game.
Junior guard Michelle Bevan scored 21 points in addition to five rebounds, while sophomore center Dumebi Egbuna, pulled down 11 rebounds, despite scoring no points. Junior guard Shellie Kaniut added 14 points, five steals, three rebounds and two assists. Sweeney and senior guard Ilene Tsao rounded out the double-digit scorers with ten points each.
“We always try to get them to turn the ball over,” Head Coach Christy Thomaskutty said. “We are an undersized team, so that’s what we always try to kind of do.”
The Eagles’ second game of the weekend, wasn’t as easy as the first.
Despite the Eagles’ lead at the half of 32-25, Case Western scored 51 points in the second half while the Eagles’ added only 30. Their strong second half eventually brought the Spartans victory by the score of 76-62.
With 9:29 left in the third quarter, the Eagles held their largest lead of the night. However, the Eagles soon lost their hold on the game. The Spartans proceeded to piggyback sophomore forward Kara Hageman’s eight points in five minutes to go on a 14-0 run, which put them up 39-38 with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter.
The Spartans held that lead until the Eagles tied the game up off Sweeney’s jump shot with 5:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. A prompt layup made it 57-55 Spartans, and Case Western held the lead for the rest of the night.
The Eagles were plagued with shooting woes throughout the game. In many of the major Case Western Reserve runs, the Eagles couldn’t seem to get the ball in the basket while allowing their opponents to knock down high percentage shots in the paint.
During crucial moments in the game, the team was unable to come through. After tying the game at 55, the Eagles gave up an 11-2 run while shooting just one for nine from the field. Additionally, during the Spartans’ momentum shifting 14-0 run in the third quarter, the Eagles shot a meager zero for seven from the field.
Despite the team’s tough loss, freshman center Ashley Oldshue and junior guard Shellie Kaniut came through off the bench to provide their team with much needed minutes and points. Each of the two scored 11 points on the game.
“I thought it was pretty much an even game,” Thomaskutty said. “They came at us hard and we never really got our feet back under us. They made some big threes.”
When asked, Thomaskutty said that her team needed to focus on their consistency going forward.
“We just haven’t played a complete game together yet. We just need to get 40 minutes of consistent play.”
Emory will return to action on Friday, Jan. 29th, when they play at the University of Chicago (Ill.). As a part of their weekend road trip, they will also face Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) on Sunday, Jan. 31.
Avery Yang is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, California, by way of New York City.
