Box Score Junior Savannah Morgan scored 13 of her game-high 15 points in the second half in leading the No. 16 Emory women's basketball team to a victory at Brandeis University Friday evening. The Eagles captured their sixth consecutive win and raised their overall to 17-2, 7-1 in the University Athletic Association, following a 66-52 triumph over the Judges who fell to 7-12 overall, 1-7 in the conference.
After sinking just one of her six field goal attempts in the first half, Morgan knocked down five-of-six from the floor over the final 20 minutes of action en route to posting her 12th double-figure scoring effort of the campaign. Senior Misha Jackson rounded out the team's double-digit scorers with 11 points while tying for game honors with seven rebounds. Junior Selena Castillo was next up on the squad's scoresheet with nine points while classmate Hannah Lilly and freshman Khadijah Sayyid each chipped in eight points, with Sayyid accounting for five of the Eagles' 12 steals.
Emory concluded the evening hitting 41 percent (26-of-63) from the floor while holding Brandeis to 33 percent (18-of-54), the ninth time this year it had held an opponent to less than 35 percent from the field. The Judges did manage to post a 49-28 advantage on the glass but that was offset by their 24 turnovers compared to Emory's season-low nine miscues.
With Lilly scoring all of her eight points in the opening stanza and senior Danielle Landry accounting for six points, the Eagles claimed a 31-18 lead at the intermission. Emory hit 39 percent (13-of-33) of its field goals attempts in the half and limited the host Judges to just 22 percent (5-of-23). Neither team shot particularly well from beyond the arc with Brandeis misfiring on all four of its opportunities while the Eagles converted 23 percent (3-of-13). The Judges held a 24-14 edge in the rebounding department but Emory managed to force Brandeis into 13 turnovers with Castillo and Sayyid accounting for a pair of steals apiece. After a pair of free throws by Julia Scanlon cut an Emory lead to 9-8, the Eagles rattled off a 15-4 sprint, with Lilly scoring five points, to race to a 24-12 advantage with 5:13 on the clock. A triple by Lilly followed by a bucket by freshman Ilene Tsao gave Emory its biggest lead of the half, 29-14, with 2:50 left.
Emory continued to press the issue in the second half, opening with a 17-9 blitz that saw Morgan knock down three triples over a three-minute stretch as it built its cushion to 48-27 with 13:44 on the clock. After a pair of BU makes at the charity stripe, back-to-back buckets by Sayyid started a 6-0 run that boosted the Eagles to their largest lead of the evening, 54-29 with 10:55 left.
Emory returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 1, when it plays at New York University in a 2:00 pm tip.
