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Emory junior Misha Jackson tallied a career-high 25 points and grabbed a game-high tying 10 rebounds Wednesday evening in leading the Eagles' women's basketball team to a home-opening victory over LaGrange College.   Emory posted an 80-54 decision over the Panthers and in the process upped its record to 2-1 while LaGrange slipped to 1-2.

Jackson tallied 15 of her game total in the second half and ended the evening sinking 11-of-16 from the floor and three-of-six from the charity stripe.  Her 10 boards marked her second double-double of the season and third of her career.   Sophomore Hannah Lilly turned in a big night with a season-high 16 points and tying her career best with seven assists.  Sophomore Savannah Morgan rounded out the squad's double-figure scorers with 10 points and also chalked up seven assists and three steals.   Through three games, Morgan has doled out 19 assists with just four turnovers.   Lilly and Morgan helped the attacking Emory offense finish with a 20-5 advantage in fast-break points.  Junior Danielle Landry and senior Becca Feldman each registered nine points with Landry pulling down 10 rebounds, her first double-digit performance of the year in that category and seventh of her career.

Emory shot 43.8 percent (32-of-73) from the floor, 53.3 percent (16-of-30) during the second half of action.  The Panthers hit on just 30.2 percent (16-of-53) of their field goal tries.  The Eagles enjoyed a 45-35 advantage in the rebounding department and came up with 12 steals off of 23 LaGrange turnovers.

Emory held a 14-11 lead early in the first half before an 8-0 run, with four different players scoring, boosted its advantage to 22-11 with 11:26 left.  The Eagles would build a pair of 14-point leads twice  during the first stanza, the last coming with 5:01 on the clock following a bucket by Morgan, but LaGrange battled back to narrow the deficit to 10 points, 40-30, at halftime.

Holding a 42-34 cushion with 18:07 remaining in the game, Emory rattled of an 11-2 scoring spree with Jackson scoring six points and senior Melissa Koike five, in bolting to a 53-36 bulge with 15:43 on the clock.  The lead swelled to 29 points, 74-45 with 7:35 left, when Emory held LaGrange scoreless over a four-minute stretch while scoring 10 unanswered points, six from Lilly.

Emory returns to action on Sunday (Nov. 27) when it hosts Birmingham Southern in a 2:00 p.m., tip.