In its last non-conference game of the regular season on Wednesday evening, the Emory University women's basketball team scored a key regional win by defeating Piedmont University 63-49 in Demorest, GA.
For the Eagles it was the scoring prowess of senior Tori Huggins that propelled them to the mid-week victory. Huggins went for a team-high 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting and pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds. Junior Mariane Auza had an incredibly efficient game shooting 6-for-8 from the floor and 2-for-2 at the charity stripe for 15 points. Auza led the way on the defensive end as well, snaring three steals which puts her in a three-way tie for most steals per game in the conference at 2.5 a contest. Off the bench, freshman Daniella Aronsky provided a scoring spark for the Eagles as she contributed eight points to go along with three assists, two rebounds and two steals.
Emory dominated the glass all game out-rebounding Piedmont 44-20 which led to 11 second chance points for the Eagles. Along with the rebounds came dominance in the paint for Emory where they outscored Piedmont 38-24. The Eagles offense was sublime, as they whipped the ball around the court to the tune of 18 assists. As per usual for Emory, the defense was too much for the Lions to handle. The Lions were forced into 23 total turnovers and held to just 35.6% shooting from the field.
The Eagles came firing out of the gates, going on a 9-0 run to start the game on the backs of the trio of Auza, Huggins, and senior Kennedy Cater. The Lions were never able to recover from the run as they did not lead at any point throughout the game. Emory continued to fire on all cylinders, going on a 10-0 run this time that spanned from the end of the first quarter to the start of the second. The Lions put forth their best effort going on a 6-0 run towards the end of the second quarter but it was to no avail as the Eagles would carry a 31-23 lead into halftime.
Piedmont continued to rally, cutting Emory's lead to as low as three in the third quarter but no matter what the Lions did the Eagles always had an answer. Upon the Lions cutting the lead to three, senior Anna Arato used her craftiness to convert an and-1 opportunity and stretching the Eagles lead back to six. From that point on Emory was able to operate on cruise control pushing the lead to as much as 17 in the fourth quarter before earning the 14-point victory.
The Eagles return to action Friday evening at 7:30 PM when they take on the Case Western Reserve Spartans in the Woodruff PE Center. The Eagles faced the Spartans in January and handily defeated them 71-50 in that contest.