Sophomore Ashley Oldshue and senior Shellie Kaniut combined for 41 points but it wasn't enough as the Emory women's basketball team was edged at Washington University Friday evening.  The Eagles saw their overall record dip to 13-8, 4-6 in the University Athletic Association, following an 82-78 setback at the hands of the No. 9-ranked Bears who came away with their seventh straight victory that boosted their overall slate to 19-2, 8-2 in the conference.

Kaniut led the Eagles with 23 points, her second straight and fifth outing of the season with 20 or more points, sinking nine-of-15 field goal attempts, including three treys in four tries, along with a pair of charity tosses.  Oldshue closed out the evening with 18 points, 14 coming in the second half, sinking six field goal in eight tries and all six of her free throws. It represented her 18^th consecutive and 20^th double-figure scoring performance of the season.  Senior Michelle Bevan rounded out the squad's double-digit scorers with 15 points, 11 coming over the final 10 minutes of play.

Entering the third quarter trailing by four points, a bucket by Oldshue drew the Eagles to within one point with 2:31 left in the stanza.  The Bears responded with an 8-0 spurt, the final five points coming from Rachel Sondag, to build a nine-point cushion with 48 seconds left.  A pair of charity tosses by Oldshue cut the WU advantage to seven entering the final quarter.  A basket by WU's Madeline Homoly opened the final frame, pushing the Bears back to a nine-point edge, but seven unanswered points by the Eagles that saw Fran Sweeney knock down a triple and Kaniut and Bevan add baskets, sliced the WU lead to 60-58 with 8:26 left.  Both squads countered with two buckets each, before a triple by Sondag, one of her six on the night, and a free throw, extended the Bears' lead to 68-62.  Emory drew to within four points when Bevan connected from distance with 2:40 on the clock, but a basket by Homoly followed by a Sondag three pointer pushed the Bears to a 75-66 lead with 3:00 on the clock. The Eagles mounted a 5-0 effort with Oldshue hitting a pair from the stripe and Sweeney hitting her second trey of the stanza to creep to a 78-73 margin, but WU held on to claim its 10^th home win on the year in as many outings.

Wash U ended the evening successful on 55 percent (33 of 60) of its field goal attempts while Emory finished at 46.9 percent (30 of 64).  The Eagles drained 42.1 percent (8 of 19) from distance compared to the Bears' 36.4 percent (8 of 22). WU held a 35-30 edge in rebounding.  Homoly led all players with 24 points while Sondag added 20, hitting seven-of-13 field goals including six-of-11 from three-point range.  

Wash U never trailed during the first half, shooting 52.9 percent from the floor (9 of 17) to Emory's 29.4 percent (5 of 17) in taking a 19-13 lead after the opening 10 minutes of action.  Kaniut personally accounted for all of the Eagles' points during a 9-4 spurt to open the second quarter that cut the Bears' advantage to one point at 23-22 with 6:16 remaining.  After the teams traded buckets, WU's Sondag sank two triples as part of an 8-0 blitz that gave the Bears the first of two nine-point leads, 33-24 with 3:45 on the clock.  Trailing by a 35-26 count, Emory used a basket by Lindsey Tse and a Kaniut trey to close out the half's scoring and cutting the Emory deficit to four points, 35-31, heading into the break.  Kaniut paced all players with 14 first-half points, 11 coming in the second frame, converting six-of-nine field goal attempts, including a pair of triples.  Wash U was successful on 48.5 percent (16 of 33) of its field goal opportunities while the Eagles checked in a 37.1 percent.

Emory returns to action on Sunday (Feb. 12) when it plays at the University of Chicago.