Women's basketball can't catch up with Crusaders
The AU women's basketball team lost a heart breaker at Holy Cross Saturday, falling, 59-55, at the Hart Center to fall to 1-4 in the Patriot League and 4-14 overall.
Senior Tala Hadavi led the Eagles with 18 points, while freshman Sahar Nusseibeh scored 13 and grabbed 12 rebounds. Pam Stanfield, coming off consecutive double-digit games, scored only six points on 2-of-7 shooting.
Brittany Keil led Holy Cross (7-10, 3-1 PL) with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but committed six turnovers for the second-place Crusaders. Shannon Bush added 15 points.
AU fell behind early and headed into halftime at a four-point deficit. They came out of the break and traded baskets with the Crusaders for the first five minutes. Back-to-back jumpers by Keil and Sarah Placek put the Crusaders up by nine before a Hadavi 3-pointer pulled AU back within six.
After a media timeout, Holy Cross went on a 9-2 spurt to build a 13-point lead. AU chipped away for much of the second half before a Nusseibeh free throw closed the gap to four with five minutes left. AU stayed close, and Nusseiebeh hit a layup with 1:47 left to pull the Eagles within three.
Talicia Jackson missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game. Then, after a Holy Cross free throw, Hadavi missed a 3-pointer that would have cut the lead to one.
The Eagles are now in last place and three games out of first place Army and Bucknell.
Next up for AU is a Tuesday night trip to Navy. The Midshipmen lost at Army Saturday and will be looking to go above .500 in the league.
- JESSE EPSTEIN
Men still searching for first PL road win after loss at Holy Cross
The AU men's basketball team continued its road struggles Saturday, falling to Holy Cross, 74-63.
Despite the loss, junior Andre Ingram regained his shooting touch, going 7 of 13 from the field for a team-high 18 points.
Juniors Brayden Billbe scored 10 and Arvydas Eitutavicius added 13 points and five assists for AU (6-12, 2-3 PL).
But despite three players in double-figures, and six blocks from freshman Jordan Nichols, AU came no closer than four points of the Crusaders with just over three minutes to play.
At that point, it was Ingram who hit the 3-pointer to close the gap to 63-59, but the Eagles made just one more field goal the rest of the game.
Holy Cross (10-9, 3-1) pulled away behind center Tim Clifford's dominating 27-point, four-block performance and the team's 24-of-29 free-throw shooting.
Nichol's six blocks tied him for the sixth-most rejections in a single game in AU history.
- ADAM ROSS
Wrestlers edged by No. 3 Nebraska
The AU wrestling team won four matches, but still fell to No. 3 Nebraska, 29-21, Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.
The Eagles' three ranked wrestlers tallied wins. No. 3 Josh Glenn thrashed No. 10 Vince Jones for a fall in the evening's marquee battle. No. 14 heavyweight Adam LoPiccolo trailed early, but pinned Nebraska's John May, who was ranked 18th. Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, the No. 4 165-pounder, remained undefeated at 15-0 by pinning unranked Cornhusker David Ingles.
AU Freshman Jordan Lipp won his fifth consecutive bout, clipping Cornhusker Patrick Aleksanyan in the 133-pound battle.
- KEVIN HILGERS
