ST. DAVID'S, Pa: (Nov. 29, 2010) - Eastern University spoiled a second half comeback from visiting Arcadia when the Eagles' Jess Ogden was fouled with :02 to play and hit the front end of a one-and-one to hang a harrowing loss on the Knights 58-57 in tonight's Middle Atlantic Conference women's basketball crossover. Arcadia (2-3) trailed by ten at the half but would swing a 13 point deficit into a 6 point lead thanks to a strong defensive presence around the perimeter that proved just as important as shooting the lights out on their 28-9 run over a nine minute span in the second half. However, the Knights' shooting would hit an unfortunate cold-spell with 6:13 to play, going 0-9 from the field as they would watch as Eastern (4-1) tied the game at 57 with 2:31 remaining. Junior Christine Taylor (Narvon, PA/Garden Spot HS/Ursinus), who picked up her 5th foul on unfortunate contact with an Eagles' outlet pass from Ogden, sending her to the line for the win, finished with a game high 17 points for Arcadia on 6-10 from the field, including 5-7 from three point land.
Arcadia sophomore Angie Adams (Elkins Park, PA/Abington Friends) opened up the game's scoring but a Rebeka Roland trey put the Eagles in front 3-2 early. Three ties later, Taylor hit her first bomb to give the Knights a 20-17 lead with nine minutes remaining in the first half. Eastern's Alysia Goodman sank a three pointer to tie a minute later which would spark a 15-5 Eagle run to close the half with the Eagles in front by ten, 35-25.
Eastern would open up the second half with a three pointer to go up 13 when the Knights made their move. Fittingly, Taylor started the 28-9 Knight's run with her third triple of the game with 18:53 to play and would be the one to knot the score at 47 at 8:58 with her fourth from long range. Arcadia senior Kelly Donahue (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) scored from behind the arc giving the Knights their first lead since the 9 minute mark of the first half and then Taylor was again left enough time to drain her fifth three of the night at 7:45 to put Arcadia in front 53-47. While the Knights were red hot from downtown, they did score 12 of their 28 points in the run inside the paint thanks to the battle tested play of senior Corrine Geiger (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge) and sophomore Jackie Law (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood). Law finished with a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds (as well as 4 assists, 2 blocks and 5 steals) while Geiger added 8 points, 5 boards and 3 blocks.
In true head to head battle fashion, this game would come down to the final six minutes and playing on the road for the fifth straight game, the Knights saw their second half offensive explosion fizzle, going 0-9 to close the game as Roland would convert on her own rebound at 2:31 to tie the game and setting up Ogden's last second game winning charity toss. Shante Jones led Eastern with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Roland finished with 15 points and 11 boards while Goodman added 10 points, 6 boards and 6 steals for the victors.
Arcadia also received scoring from first year Krista Hsu (Newark, DE/Delcastle Tech), who scored 9 points and pulled down 5 rebounds. First year Christie Kershaw (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham), scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting and grabbed 6 caroms while Adams would score 4 and dish out a game high 8 assists for the Knights. Arcadia out-shot Eastern 40.7% - 33.8% from the floor and 37.5% - 14.3% from behind the arc. Free throw shooting was in Eastern's favor 61.5% - 30%.
The Knights have one day to prepare for Wednesday night's Commonwealth Conference opener at home when they host Widener University at 6 PM in the Kuch Center. The two teams tip off at 6 PM followed by the men's game at 8 PM.
