Box Score Freshman Ilene Tsao scored 14 of her team-high 16 points in the second half and the No. 20-ranked Emory women's basketball stormed back from an 11-point second-half deficit Friday evening in registering a victory at Case Western. The Eagles raised their overall record to 13-2, 3-1 in the University Athletic Association following a 75-57 verdict over the Spartans who fell to 10-5, 2-2 in the conference.
Emory concluded the game shooting 41.3 percent (26-63) from the floor and was effective from beyond the arc, draining 42 percent (8-of-19) of its tries. The Eagles enjoyed a strong shooting performance in the second half, connecting at a 53.3 percent (16-of-30) clip from the field including 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from three-point range, as they outscored the host Spartans by a 47-22 margin. Emory finished with a slim 36-35 edge on the glass, 16-10 on the offensive end. For the game, Case shot 44 percent (23-of-52) but was ice cold from three-point range, sinking just one of its 18 opportunities.
After trailing by seven points at halftime, Emory saw the Spartans score the first two baskets of the second half that put it into an 11-point hole, 39-28, with 19:16 left in the game. The Eagles still faced a nine-point deficit with 17:15 on the clock before kicking their offense into high gear, first with an 8-0 charge that cut the gap to just one point with 13:59 remaining. After a bucket by CWRU's Berit Eppard extended the home team's lead to three points a triple by junior Selena Castillo tied the game at 45-45. After the teams traded buckets, a three-pointer by junior Hannah Lilly gave Emory its first lead of the game, 50-47, with 10:53 left on the clock. After a basket by Evy Iacono drew Case to within one point, Emory responded with a 12-2 run that pushed its lead to 62-51 with 6:40 on the clock. Tsao started the barrage with back-to-back three pointers and then scored the final four points of the run with back-to-back buckets. The Spartans answered with four straight points to creep back to within 62-55 with 5:16 left but the Eagles slammed the door shut on any comeback bid by scoring 13 of the game's final 15 points.
Tsao ended the contest, sinking five-of-six of her field goal attempts, including three-of-four from downtown. Her scoring output was a season high and represented her second double-figure scoring effort of the campaign. Castillo and Lilly rounded out the Emory double-figure scorers with 14 points apiece. Castillo came through with her third straight outing of three treys while Lilly sank a pair from beyond the arc, her 20th straight game of at least one trey. Misha Jackson led all players with 10 rebounds, her eighth contest of double figures.
Emory struggled to find its shooting eye during the first half of play, converting just 30 percent (10-33) from the floor compared to the Spartans' mark of 46 percent (12-of-26). The Eagles hit just six of their first 25 attempts from the field as Case built a 14-point cushion, 29-15, with 5:07 left in the stanza. Emory regrouped and rattled off a 10-2 spurt, highlighted by a pair of three-point field goals by Castillo, to cut the gap to six points with 2:53 on the clock. After a bucket by Evy Iacono, her ninth and tenth points of the half, extended CWRU's advantage back to eight, a three-point play by Emory freshman Khadijah Sayyid drew the Eagles to five. A subsequent Case basket on its next possession closed out the scoring for the half. Sayyid paced the Eagles' first-half scoring effort, scoring seven of her final total of eight points in the stanza. Emory was able to stay in the game thanks in part to a strong effort on the boards, claiming a 21-18 edge on the glass, 10-4 on the offensive end. Jackson grabbed five rebounds in the half with Castillo adding four.
Emory returns to action on Sunday (Jan. 20) when it plays at Carnegie Mellon.
