In a hard fought battle to the last seconds of the game, the Emory University women's basketball team came up just a hair short as they fell 66-61 to No. 7 ranked University of Chicago on Friday evening in the Woodruff PE Center.
With the loss, the Eagles now move to 12-4 on the season with a 3-3 record in conference play while the Maroons sit tied atop the conference with a 5-1 record in the UAA.
Senior Claire Brock registered her third game with 20-points or more in conference play as she scored an even 20 points on 5-10 shooting and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. Brock also pulled down a team-high six rebounds and got her defensive stats in as well recording a steal and block apiece. Sophomore Morgan Laudick reached double figures for the third consecutive game as she tallied 16 points while snagging four rebounds of her own. Coming off the bench, junior Izzy Munson scored 10 points to go along with five rebounds and a dime. For the Maroons Grace Hynes notched a game-high 25 points.
The Eagles found themselves in foul trouble early in the game as they recorded 20 total fouls, with three different Eagles committing four, which put their opponent to the line 20 times and limited the minutes of a few key contributors for Emory. The Maroons shot the ball well from beyond the arc as seen by their shooting line of 38.7% from three while the Eagles knocked down just four of their triples resulting in a 20% shooting mark from deep. Emory was able to stay in the contest with their physicality as they out scored Chicago 26-20 in the paint.
The Eagles dug themselves a hole early trailing 9-4 in the first period before closing out the quarter on a 14-4 run highlighted by an eight point scoring barrage from Brock. The Maroons opened their lead back up in the second quarter notching a 10-0 run in the middle of the period to go up 29-20. A late-quarter foul gave the Maroons two more points and resulted in the Eagles trailing 35-26 heading into halftime.
The Eagles would shrink the to as close as six in the third but still trailed by nine heading into the final frame of the game. The Eagles came out sizzling in the fourth as they cut the lead to two thanks to a 6-0 run to open the period that was sparked by trips to the line from Brock and sophomore Daniella Aronsky. Every time the Eagles would get within striking distance had a counter as they knocked down a couple of triples and hit a few timely free throws to keep themselves in the lead. With the Eagles down five and under a minute to go, Muson generated a steal to give Emory their final opportunity of the game but were unable to seize the opportunity as they went scoreless on the possession and the Maroons emerged with a 66-61 victory.
The Eagles will return to the Woodruff PE Center on Sunday when they will take on the WashU Bears (12-5, 5-1 UAA) at 2:00 PM as they look to return to the wins column.