The Emory University women's basketball team lost in heartbreaking fashion to Case Western Reserve Friday night, falling in overtime 68-61 at the Woodruff PE Center in Atlanta.

With this loss the Eagles record now sits at 14-8 and 7-5 in UAA play which sees them tied for second with WashU (13-10, 7-5) and Chicago (14-8, 7-5). NYU leads the conference with a UAA record of 11-1.

For the Eagles, junior Mariane Auza had one of the most impressive performances of her career as she put up 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight steals in 34 minutes of action. Her eight thefts marked the second most by any Eagle in a single game in program history. Senior Anna Arato led the Eagles in scoring and rebounding as she collected her first double-double of the year with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Tori Huggins was a beast on the offensive glass with seven of her eight rebounds coming on that end while also leading the team in assists with five. For the Spartans, Isabella Mills was their leading scorer finishing the game with 24 points.

Emory stayed in the game until the very last minute by committing to the dirty work on defense and offense. The Eagles finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds which led to 17 second chance points. Emory also crushed Case Western Reserve in the paint where they were outscored 42 to 20.

The Eagles continued with their usual brand of high intensity defense, forcing the Spartans into 20 total turnovers that Emory turned into 22 points. Where Case Western Reserve held the advantage was in shooting from all areas of the court. The Spartans shot 38.5% from three while the Eagles were able to cash in just 9.1% of their triples, finishing the game with only two makes from behind the arc. Case Western Reserve executed when they went to the line, converting 17 of its 19 free throw attempts while Emory made just 11 of its 18 attempts.

The game started with a back-and-forth first quarter that saw no team gain any real momentum as the Spartans held a mere two point lead at the quarter break. The second quarter was where the game's intensity started to pick up. Early in the period, Auza had three straight possessions in which she generated steals to bring Emory back to a tie ball game. Case Western Reserve responded with a 7-0 run of its own before the Eagles narrowed the gap back down to one at the end of the quarter thanks to another steal by Auza that led to a pretty corner three from junior Claire Brock.

The second half opened with more of the same from Auza and the Eagles as she quickly generated two more steals on consecutive possessions that would lead to yet another tie game. Despite the Spartans stretching the lead out to eight in the third quarter the Eagles would just not give in, shaving the lead back down to one heading into the fourth thanks to a buzzer-beating tip-in layup from Huggins.

The fourth quarter was a tight affair with neither team leading by more than four points in the period. With the Eagles trailing by one with just under 30 seconds to play, Auza was fouled on a drive to the rim and went one-for-two at the line to ultimately send the game to overtime. In the overtime period, the Spartans capitalized with an 11-0 run to bust the game wide open and eventually earn the seven-point win.

The Eagles will look to get back to their winning ways Sunday afternoon when they take on the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (11-10, 5-7) at the Woodruff PE Center beginning at 2:00 PM.