The AU women's basketball team continued a disappointing month by losing to the Army Black Knights Tuesday night at Bender Arena, 75-66, to drop to 4-13, 1-3 in the Patriot League.
The Eagles used a strong first half to build a two-point halftime lead, but an 12-1 Army run to open the second half put the Eagles behind for good. Two Stefanie Stone free throws opened the flood gates for Army as Megan Vrabel keyed the spurt over the next three minutes.
"We came out very flat in the second half," Eagles coach Melissa McFerrin said. "Coming in, we said the first four minutes of that half would be the most important, and we have a mental lapse."
Cara Enright led the Knights with a game-high 26 points and six rebounds. Freshman Alex McGuire scored 19 points and Stone had 18 to lead Army (9-8, 3-1 PL)
The Eagles were led by senior Tala Hadavi, who scored 20 points and pulled down seven boards. Freshmen Pam Stanfield and Sahar Nusseibeh scored 16 and 12, respectively, to keep AU in the game.
"Tala was much more active tonight and I was very impressed with what Pam did tonight," McFerrin said of her two leading scorers.
After digging a 12-point hole in the second half, the Eagles tried to claw back. Down 53-41 with just over 14 minutes left, Nusseiebeh hit a layup that keyed a 9-3 run featuring seven Stanfield points.
The Eagles stayed close and drew within three with six minutes left. Then, a referee's call may have cost the Eagles the game. McGuire clearly threw an errant pass over the head of her teammate, but the official ruled Nusseibeh tipped it out of bounds. Instead of AU having a chance to tie the game, the ball went back to Army and Enright hit a driving layup to put Army up five.
The call seemed to deflate the Eagles, who surrendered six straight points and found themselves down nine with just three minutes left.
"We just had a mental lapse and played inconsistent basketball," said McFerrin.
A huge problem for the Eagles was the ineffectiveness of their main post players, Abby Lipskis and Tish Curry, who were in foul trouble much of the night. Lipskis, the Eagles' second leading scorer, was held to just four points in only nine minutes of action because she was saddled with four fouls. After picking up two quick ones early, she sat for the final
