Atlanta, Ga., February 5, 2012 – The No. 8 ranked Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team suffered its first road loss of the season in a 82-72 loss at Emory University on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, Ga. Washington U. fought back from 16 points down in the second half to cut the lead to one with 6:29 to play.
Both teams started slow, but it was Emory who had the upper hand in the first half. The Eagles broke a tie game with a 7-0 run to jump out to a 13-6 lead on a jumper by Hannah Lilly. The lead grew to 19-9 following six-straight points by Emory, and after a timeout by Washington U., a bucket by Melissa Koike made it 21-9.
Emory took its largest lead of the half at 24-11 with 9:13 after a three-pointer by Koike. Sophomore Lucy Montgomery checked in off the bench with six minutes to play and made an immediate impact. Montgomery sank a free-throw and buried a three-pointer in a span of 21 seconds, and then her second three of the half cut the lead to 33-23.
Montgomery sank her third three-pointer with 19 seconds to play to cut the Emory lead to 10 (39-29), but a bucket by Danielle Landry with two seconds left made it 41-29. Washington U. shot 39.3 percent (11-28) in the first half, but was outrebounded 26-15. The Eagles took advantage of 10 offensive rebounds for 11 second-chance points. Montgomery led the Bears with 10 points.
Emory would get the lead up to 16 early in the second half, before Washington U. mounted its comeback by pushing the ball up the court. A fast-break lay-up freshman Alyssa Johanson and a fast-break three-pointer by senior Dani Hoover got the lead down to seven (55-48).
Hoover scored five-straight points and then senior Bethany Morrison canned a three-pointer to cut the lead to one (69-68) with 6:29 to play. The Bears trailed by three with three-minutes to go, but a three-pointer by Savannah Morgan with 2:54 to play got the lead back to six. Hoover countered with a lay-up to get the lead down to four (76-72), but Emory connected on all four of its free-throws in the final 37 seconds to seal the win.
Hoover (14 points, eight rebounds), freshman Melissa Gilkey (11 points, six rebounds), Montgomery (10 points) and Morrison (10 points) all scored in double figures for the Bears. Morrison also tied a career-high with eight assists, as Washington U. had 20 assists and turned the ball over just nine times in the loss.
All five starters scored in double figures for Emory, which improved to 14-5, 5-3 in the UAA. Morgan (19 points), Koike (15 points), Lilly (15 points), Misha Jackson (13 points) and Landry (12 points) all scored in double figures for the Eagles. Emory outrebounded Washington U. 46-33, and had 16 offensive rebounds.
Washington University (15-4, 5-3 UAA) plays its final two home games of the season next weekend against Case Western Reserve on Friday, Feb. 10, at 6 p.m., and Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. At halftime of Friday's game, Washington U. will honor its 11 members of the WU Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2011, including head coach Nancy Fahey.
Bear Notebook: The win for Emory snapped a season-long three-game losing streak … Washington U. leads the all-time series with Emory 41-6 … The Bears shot a season-low seven free-throws in the loss.