Box Score Junior Misah Jackson led five double-figure scorers with 17 points in leading the Emory women's basketball team to an exciting overtime victory over New York University on Friday evening. The Eagles captured their second straight win and upped their overall record to 15-6, 6-4 in the University Athletic Association with an 82-73 decision over the Violets who slipped to 10-11 overall, 2-8 in the league. Friday's contest was Senior Night with Emory's Becca Feldman, Emily Hyncik and Melissa Koike being honored before the game.
Jackson sank eight-of-16 field goal tries in posting her 17th double-figure scoring effort of the campaign. She also pulled down eight rebounds and recorded a pair of blocked shots, the last one coming with just six seconds left in regulation that helped Emory maintain a one-point lead. Sophomores Savannah Morgan and Hannah Lilly totaled 15 and 14 points, respectively, while senior Becca Feldman registered 11 points. Senior Melissa Koike rounded out Emory's double-digit scorers with 10 points.
A pair of foul shots by NYU's Cara Bonito opened the overtime session, giving the visitors a 68-66 advantage. Morgan answered with a three-point field goal that gave the Eagles a one-point advantage, but a charity toss by Makenzie Hirz knotted the contest at 69-69 with 3:17 on the clock. Emory then held NYU scoreless for nearly three minutes while scoring seven unanswered points to take an insurmountable 76-69 advantage. Jackson started that run with a jumper followed by a pair of free throws by Lilly. After junior Danielle Landry hit one-of-two from the foul line, Morgan knocked down two free throws. Emory connected on three-of-six field goal attempts in the extra session while NYU was successful on just two-of-10. The Eagles made the most of their free throw tries in the overtime, draining nine in 10 tries.
Shooting 53.6 (15-of-28) percent from the floor during the opening 20 minutes of play, Emory raced out to a 36-20 lead at halftime. NYU had trouble finding the bucket in the opening stanza, hitting just 29.6 percent (8-of-27) of its field goal opportunities. Jackson scored eight points in the first half while Lilly accounted for six points on the strength of a pair of triples. Holding a 16-10 lead with 9:35 left in the half, Emory rattled off a 12-2 blitz, with Lilly sinking her two treys and Morgan adding one, to claim a 28-12 advantage with 4:47 left. A jumper by sophomore Selena Castillo with 2:50 left gave Emory what would be its largest lead of the night, 32-15.
NYU roared out of the blocks in the second half, scoring the stanza's first 10 points in the the first 3:13 to slice Emory's lead to 36-30. Emory regrouped and led by a nine-point count, 48-39, with 13:58 on the clock following a jumper by Morgan. After the Violets drew to within three points with 8:52 left, the Eagles rattled off eight straight points to take a 62-51 bulge with 6:43 left. However, NYU bounced back with a 10-0 charge, keyed by a pair of three-pointers by Bianca Storts, to draw to 62-61 with 2:56 left. Back-to-back baskets by Jackson and Lilly pushed Emory's lead back to five with 1:11 on the clock, but NYU answered with two buckets of its own to cut the Eagles' lead to 66-65 with 37 seconds left. With two ticks on the clock, Emory missed the front end of a one-and-one but Emory was whistled for a foul sending Storts to the line. After she made her first charity toss that tied the contest, she misfired on the second, sending the game into overtime.
Emory returns to action on Sunday (Feb. 12) when it hosts Brandeis in a 2:00 p.m. start.
