The Emory University women's basketball team put on a show in its season opener with a 79-57 thrashing of the LaGrange Panthers on Tuesday evening in Atlanta.
Senior guard and reigning All-UAA First Team member Claire Brock picked up right where she left off last season, with her eighth game of 20 or more points, scoring 23 on an efficient 8-for-15 shooting as well as a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc. Brock also tallied 10 rebounds to mark the second double-double of her career. Sophomore Daniella Aronsky had a stellar game of her own as her 12 assists on the night came one assist shy of matching the program record set back in 2012. Aronsky was more than just a passing maestro as she also poured in six points, six rebounds and three blocks to round out her night. In her first career start, sophomore Erin Martin stuffed the stat sheet across her team-leading 32 minutes with 14 points, eight rebounds, four blocks and an impressive six assists.
The Eagles had an efficient shooting night, shooting 40% from the field to the Panthers 28.8% mark as well as 35.3% from three and 75% from the line. The Eagles held the lead for the entirety of the game thanks in large part to their defensive effort in which they forced 15 turnovers. Emory also dished the ball incredibly well, pouring in 22 assists to the Panthers nine in an offensive clinic.
The Eagles started their season with a connection we will see across the season as Brock drained a three on an assist from Aronsky in the first five seconds of the game that set the tone for the remainder of the contest. A 6-0 run from the Eagles was the highlight of the first quarter, with senior Mariane Auza battling for a second chance opportunity putback layup to cap the run, and give Emory a 20-14 lead at the end of the first. Emory went on an absolute tear to open the second quarter with a 15-0 run that included ten of Brock's 23 points as she went 4-for-4 in that stretch. The Eagles went into the locker room at halftime sporting a comfortable 44-26 lead.
The third quarter started a little slower for the Eagles as their offense stalled scoring just 11 points in the quarter to allow the Panthers to cut the lead to just ten points heading into the fourth. Martin scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to push Emory's lead back to 14 and allowed them to go on cruise control the rest of the way, eventually capturing the victory by a score of 79-57.
The Eagles will take a trip out West as they play back-to-back games in Colorado Springs, Colorado with the first of the two coming against Sul Ross State on Friday at 9:00 PM and the latter against Colorado College on Saturday at 4:00 PM.