In a hard fought and spirited contest, the No. 16-ranked Emory women's basketball team battled No. 2 Washington University Sunday afternoon before falling short in its attempt to saddle the Bears with their first University Athletic Association setback.  Emory saw its record slip to 15-3 overall, 4-3 in the UAA, following a 69-61 loss to WU, who upped its overall mark to 17-1, 7-0 in the league.

Seniors Savannah Morgan and Hannah Lilly paced the Emory attack with the duo combining for 30 points.  Morgan finished the afternoon with 16 points, hitting seven-of-17 from the field, while contributing four rebounds and three assists.   Lilly scored all 14 of her points in the second half, knocking down three triples in the process, before leaving the game late in the stanza with an injury.  Freshman Michelle Bevan rounded out the team's double-figure scorers, coming off the bench to sink all five of her field goal opportunities en route to a season-high tying 10 points in a season-long 23 minutes of play.

WU shot 42.6 percent (26-of-61) from the floor while Emory checked in with a showing of 37.7 percent (26-of-69).  The Bears enjoyed a 44-32 margin in rebounding and were led in that category by junior Melissa Gilkey who snagged 14 caroms to go along with her 17 points.

Emory trailed early on in the game, 11-4, before an 8-0 spurt, with Bevan contributing a pair of buckets in that stretch, gave it a 12-11 advantage.  A jumper by rookie Fran Sweeney put the Eagles up by a 14-13 count with 11:21 left in the stanza, but the Bears responded with seven straight points to claim a 20-14 lead.   Emory drew to within four points at 22-18 with 4:36 on the clock following a bucket by freshman Shellie Kaniut but WU would go into halftime with a 30-22 advantage.  Morgan totaled 10 first-half points to lead the Emory scoring effort.

WU jumped out to a 13-point advantage, 37-24, early in the second stanza before Lilly accounted for six points in an 11-3 Emory run that cut its deficit to 40-35.   The Bears held off that charge and built an 11-point margin, 55-44, with 9:21 left in the game following a basket by Jordan Rettig.  However, the Eagles mounted another comeback bid with an 8-2 burst, started by a Morgan layup and followed by back-to-back triples by Lilly, to creep to within five points with 6:19 on the clock.  Wash U countered with three pointers by Jordan Thompson and Gilkey to extend its lead to 11 points with just under five minutes remaining.  From there, the closest Emory would get would be six points with 1:55 left.

Emory returns to action on Friday (Feb. 7) when it plays at the University of Chicago.