The Emory women's basketball team ventured to St. Louis and gave Washington University all it could handle on Sunday afternoon before falling in overtime to the No. 7-ranked Bears.  Emory saw its overall record slip to 13-5 overall, 4-3 in the University Athletic Association, following an 83-80 setback to WU who raised its record to 15-3 overall, 5-2 in the league.

Senior Becca Feldman led the Emory scoring attack with a career-high 21 points, sinking seven-of-12 from the floor including five-of-eight from three-point range.  Junior Danielle Landry totaled a season-high 14 points, converting seven of her nine field goal attempts, while pacing the team's rebounding effort with nine boards.  Sophomores Savannah Morgan and Hannah Lilly closed out the team's double-figure scorers with 12 and 11 points, respectively. 

The Bears scored back-to-back baskets and took a 78-74 lead with 3:37 left in the extra session only to see Emory rally to score the next five points, with Lilly hitting a pair of free throws followed by a three-point play by junior Misha Jackson, that gave the visitors a one-point edge with 2:30 left.   WU answered with buckets by Alyssa Johanson and Jordan Rettig to go up by an 82-79 count with 1:32 remaining.  An Emory free throw with 1:15 left cut the gap to two points, and when Landry picked off a Wash U. inbounds pass with 47 ticks on the clock Emory had a chance to tie or to go ahead.  The Eagles had a couple of shot attempts on the ensuing possession but couldn't score.  After the Bears made one of two foul shots with nine seconds remaining, a three-point attempt by Feldman at the buzzer missed the mark and sealed the outcome of the contest.

Emory outshot the Bears from the floor, hitting 47.0 percent (31-of-66) to 38.8 percent (26-of-67).  The Eagles also enjoyed an advantage in three-point shooting, converting 44.4 percent (8-of-18) compared to WU's showing of 37.5 percent (9-of-21).   The Bears did hold a 45-41 margin in rebounding and were paced in that category by Melissa Gilkey with 10 boards.  Maddy Scheppers led the WU scoring effort with 19 points.

After trailing by a 10-2 margin early in the game, Emory responded with an 11-0 run, capped by a bucket by Landry to take 13-10 advantage with 11:42 left in the opening half.  The Bears countered with a 7-0 charge that put the host squad up by a 17-13 count with 10:20 left in the stanza.  The Bears would go on to enjoy a pair of nine-leads during the first half, the final one being a 38-29 advantage with 2:21 left on the clock.  However, Emory closed out the half on an 8-2 run that cut WU's lead to 40-37 at the intermission.  Emory shot 50 percent (16-of-32) from the floor to the Bears' showing of 38.7 percent (12-of-31).  WU did have success from beyond the arc, hitting seven-of-14 attempts while the Eagles converted three-of-seven.  Feldman and Landry gave Emory a boost off the bench with 10 points apiece while WU was led in scoring by Dani Hoover with nine points.  

Facing a 49-44 obstacle with 15:38 left in regulation, Emory stunned the partisan crowd at the WU Field House with an 11-2 spree, the last two points coming on a layup by Jackson, to claim a 55-51 lead.  The Bears responded with back-to-back three-point plays to take a two-point lead only to see Emory tie the affair at 57-57 with 10:15 on the clock after a basket by Jackson.  After a triple by Scheppers knotted the affair at 62-62, back-to-back treys by Feldman, combined with a basket by senior Melissa Koike, helped Emory to an 8-2 surge that enabled it to take its biggest lead of the contest, 70-64 with 5:51 remaining.  The Eagles still held a five-point edge with 3:44 on the clock after a bucket by Feldman, but Emory would go scoreless for over the next 3:36 while WU scored seven unanswered points to take a 74-72 lead.  A pair of free throws by Lilly with eight seconds ended the Eagles' scoring drought and forced the overtime.

Emory returns to action next Friday (Feb. 3) when it hosts No. 2-ranked Chicago.