Eagles' First-Half Defense Staunch In Win
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Eastern's Gina DiDomenico scored 15 points and grabbed six steals in the Eagles' win over Manhattanville on Wednesday night.
The Eagles ran out to a 34-20 lead by halftime, but the Valiants bounced back in the second half to shoot 53.3 percent and outscore the Eagles. Eastern led by as much as 19 in the second half and still led by 15 with two minutes to go. Manhattanville executed a 12-1 run in the final 2:19, but the late effort proved to be too little too late.
Three Eagles scored in double-digits on Wednesday, all seniors, and the team as a whole shot 45.5 percent from the floor. Meghan Nowak led the Eagles with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. She shot 6-for-12 from the floor and 7-for-11 from the free-throw line. With the seven made free throws, Nowak became the Eagles' all-time leader in successful career free throws (368). Gina DiDomenico notched 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, with four 3-pointers, and also stole the ball six times. Kaitlyn Dougherty added 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.
The Eagles had to contend with Manhattanville post player Alyson Caiazzo. The 6-foot-2 center recorded 29 points on 9-of-14 shooting and 11-of-16 shooting from the free-throw line. She also gathered 16 rebounds.
Bri Pabon added 19 points for the Valiants and Ashley Franklin contributed 10.
Eastern took its first lead of the game four minutes in when a DiDomenico trey made it 5-4. The Eagles did not trail the rest of the game. With the win, Eastern improved to 12-4 and 4-1 in the Freedom Conference. Manhattanville drops to 10-6 overall and 1-4 in conference.
On Saturday, Eastern will travel to Misericordia University for a 1 p.m. Freedom Conference game.