It wasn’t pretty, but it was exactly what the Eagles needed: some momentum going into the Patriot League tournament. With a grind-it-out 66-59 win over Loyola on Saturday, the AU women’s basketball team clinched the fourth seed in the tournament, earning a first-round bye and home court advantage for their quarterfinal matchup on March 6.
Though the Eagles (14-14, 11-6 PL) held the lead for all 40 minutes of the game, the Greyhounds showed signs of life throughout the second half and cut the deficit to three points midway through the fourth quarter. AU was buoyed by the return of sophomore forward Cecily Carl, who had missed three games due to injury. Carl hit a career-high four three-pointers off the bench and solidified the Eagles’ lead late in the fourth quarter with her final three-ball.
“I haven’t played in a while, and it’s just been tough to watch from the sidelines,” Carl said. “To make those threes is a really big deal because I don’t feel like I’ve been shooting the three as well this year as I [did] last year, or even towards the beginning of the year...I just didn’t think about it and just shot.”
Though AU only shot 36.5 percent from the field, mthey shared the love on the offensive end, with three players in double digits and two others contributing 9 points each. However, the success story of Saturday’s game came in the Eagles’ shutdown of Loyola’s top scorer, Bri Betz-White, one of the best offensive players in the Patriot League. Betz-White had only four points in 30 minutes, all of which came off free throws.
“To be able to hold her to no made baskets and just four from the free throw line is big,” head coach Megan Gebbia said. “I’m just really proud of our defensive play today.”
Yet the Eagles struggled to defend Loyola’s Lauren Daugherty, who scored 28 points, most of them inside the paint. But the Eagles’ improved free throw shooting late in the game was enough to carry them to victory with less drama than Feb. 22’s near-disaster win over Navy, in which AU almost blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead.
“Our play [in the fourth quarter] was much better than we’ve been in the past, and under pressure,” Gebbia said. “Making free throws was big for us. I told them in the locker room that free throws have lost us several games this year, and we weren’t able to hit them. This time we did, and if we continue to do that, we can win close games.”
In their final regular season home game, the Eagles also bid farewell to the team’s two remaining seniors, Lauren Crisler and Jordan Light, in a pre-game ceremony. Both women were members of the 2014-2015 team that made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in AU history.
“I just feel thankful for the opportunities that I’ve had to play for this team,” Crisler said. “I’m feeling really good about the game and the momentum that we have going forward into the game against Navy and then into playoffs.”
After facing off earlier this month, AU will play Navy one more time on March 1 in their regular season finale. From there, the Eagles will begin preparing for their tournament game against an undetermined opponent on March 6 in Bender Arena. Gebbia said the team will focus on improving synergy between guards and forwards, offensive rebounding and post defense, a weakness that was highlighted by Daugherty’s dominance in the paint.
“There’s always a few games that kind of point things out to you, and this is one of those games where we’re going to go back to the drawing board again and work on it again,” Gebbia said.
