The Emory University women's basketball lost a heartbreaker on Sunday afternoon as they fell 60-57 on a triple in the closing moments to the WashU Bears in the Woodruff PE Center.
With the loss the Eagles move to 3-4 in conference play after losing their weekend series at home while the Bears sit atop the UAA with a conference record of 6-1.
Sophomore Daniella Aronsky led the team in scoring with 11 points, nine of which came on three-pointers in the first half as she continued to bolster her nation leading three point percentage. Sophomore Erin Martin finished two points shy of a double-double as she closed the game with a line of eight points and 14 rebounds with the 14 rebounds marking a new single game career high for Martin. Senior Mariane Auza played a pivotal role on defense as her pressure on that end resulted in two steals and a block. For the Bears, Maya Arnott led the team with a game-high 16 points to go along with ten rebounds.
While most stats across the board were pretty even was the Bears three point shooting as they made three more triples than the Eagles on the same number of attempts which ended up turning the tide at the end. While the Eagles usually do a strong job of possessing the ball, WashU's defensive intensity forced Emory into 17 turnovers to just 15 assists.
Emory came out of the gate firing on all cylinders as midway through the second quarter they were up 32-21, marking the largest lead for either team in the contest, with Aronsky making all three of her shots from downtown in this stretch. The Bears battled hard to the end of the quarter and cut the lead to five as the two teams headed to their locker rooms at halftime.
The Bears carried their momentum from the end of the first half into the second as they opened the third quarter on an 8-2 run to take their first lead since the score was 12-10 in the first period. The rest of the third was tight as neither team led by more than two for the rest of the period. In the closing seconds of the third senior Claire Brock dribbled the ball down the court and pulled up from just past midcourt and swished a buzzer-beating three to take a 46-45 lead into the fourth.
The two teams stayed neck and neck as WashU led by just two with just under two minutes remaining in the game. With 1:20 left to play and just two seconds on the shot clock, Auza hit a big time jumper on an out-of-bounds play to tie the game up at 57 apiece. With both teams generating turnovers in the closing minute of the game, it was the Bears who had the ball back with 30 seconds left to play. A few swings from WashU allowed them to find Karisa Grandison open at the top of the key who then knocked down the triple to take a 60-57 lead with 20 seconds remaining. Brock was able to get two good looks from three in the closing seconds but was unable to put either one of them through the net as WashU closed the game out to stay in the conference lead.
The Eagles are back on the road next week where they will get their chance at redemption with a rematch against Chicago (16-2, 5-2) in Chicago, IL on Friday at 6:30 PM before traveling to St. Louis, MO on Sunday for a rematch against the Bears on Sunday at 3:00 PM.