Senior Khadijah Sayyid and junior Shellie Kaniut combined for 31 points and the Emory women's basketball turned in a solid defensive effort on Saturday afternoon in earning a win at home over nationally ranked Maryville College.  The Eagles won for the seventh time in their last eight outings and upped their record to 8-2 following a 59-51 triumph over the Scots who slipped to 8-2.

Sayyid paced the Emory scoring attack with a season-high 17 points, 15 coming in the second half, hitting four-of-eight from the floor, including three treys in five attempts, and six-of-eight from the charity stripe.  Kaniut came off the bench to contribute 14 points, converting four-of-eight of her field goal attempts, including two three pointers, and a pair of free throws.  Juniors Fran Sweeneyand Michelle Bevan each added nine points in the win.

Facing a three-point deficit heading into the third quarter, the Eagles outpointed the Scots by an 18-8 count to claim a 39-32 lead.  Emory trailed by a 32-26 margin with 4:41 left in the stanza after a triple by the Scots' Lauren Biliter, but clamped down defensively on the visitors, holding them scoreless for the remainder of the frame while going on a 13-0 run. Sayyid and Kanuit totaled six and five points, respectively, during that stretch which saw Maryville misfire on its last five field goal attempts while turning the ball over twice. 

Maryville drew to within three points early in the fourth quarter but a basket by senior Ilene Tsaofollowed by a trey by Sayyid stretched Emory's lead to eight points with 6:47 remaining.  The Scots would get to as close as four points on a pair of occasions, the final time at 5:17,  but a timely 6-0 Emory spurt that saw Bevan score four points and Sweeney two, stretched a five-point Eagle lead to 11 with just 1:24 on the clock. 

Emory concluded the afternoon shooting 43.8 percent (21 of 48) from the field, including 54.5 percent (6 of 11) from beyond the arc, while Maryville, which came into the game averaging 64.1 points, finished the game with a 30.2 percent effort (19 of 63) from the floor, 26.9 percent (7 of 26) from distance.  Maryville's field goal percentage was the second-lowest Emory opponent total of the season and the eighth time a foe failed to reach 40 percent.  Sophomore Dumebi Egbuna led all players with a career-high tying 10 rebounds.

Emory returns to action on Monday (Jan. 4) when it hosts Rhodes College in a 2:00 pm start.