The Emory women's basketball team gave No. 4-ranked Washington University all it could handle Friday evening, battling the Bears tooth-and-nail on the road before coming out on the short end of  hotly contested battle.  The Eagles saw their overall record slip to 8-5 (0-2 UAA) after a 66-59 setback to the Bears who raised their overall slate to 12-1, 2-0 in the league.

Emory trailed by a 35-25 margin early in the second half before stunning the WU Field House crowd with 13-2 blitz, keyed by seven points from junior Ilene Tsao, that gave it a 38-37 lead with 13:34 left in the contest.   Emory led by a 43-42 margin following a bucket by freshman Dumebi Egbuna, but a three-pointer by the Bears' Ereka Hunt followed by a Melissa Gilkey basket, gave Wash U a 47-43 edge with 9:02 remaining.  Emory did manage to deadlock the game at 48-48 with 7:36 on the clock following a jumper from sophomore Michelle Bevan, but a crucial 11-3 Wash U spurt pushed it to a 59-51 cushion with just 3:17 left.  A layup by Sayyid, combined with a charity toss from Egbuna and freshman Whitney Carmack's third three pointer of the contest, drew the Eagles to within five points, 62-57, with 44 ticks on the clock, but the Bears made four free throws over the final 33 seconds to seal away with win.

Sayyid led the Emory scoring attack with 14 points while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds en route to her fourth double-double of the campaign.  Egbuna totaled a season-high tying 12 points, her third double-figure scoring performance in the last four games and fifth of the season, and snagged seven boards.  Carmack rounded out the double-figure scorers with a season-high 11 points. 

Gilkey led Wash U in scoring with 15 points and with seven boards.

Emory concluded the contest sinking 40.7 percent (24-of-59) from the floor while the Bears were successful on 41.7 percent (25-of-60).  Three-point shooting played a role in the outcome with Wash U converting nine-of-26 from distance while Emory was successful on four-of-14 of its tries.  Emory held its own on the glass against the Bears, who entered the evening No. 2 in the UAA with a +13.2 rebound margin, finishing with 42 boards while the Bears registered 43 caroms.

The Eagles opened the game with a pair of field goals by Sayyid before seeing the Bears rattle off a 17-2 run over a seven-minute stretch, keyed by a pair of three pointers by Hunt, that gave the hosts a 17-6 lead with 11:35 left in the stanza.   Emory regrouped to narrow its deficit to seven points at 22-15, following a three-point play by Egbuna.  Wash U then received scoring from five different players in using an 11-3 charge that stretched its lead to 15 points, 33-18, with 1:29 on the clock.  The Eagles battled back and closed out the half with seven straight points, highlighted by their lone triple of the half, that by Carmack, to slice the Bears' advantage to eight points heading into halftime.  Emory shot 37.9 percent (11-of-29) from the field during the opening 20 minutes of action while Wash U posted a mark of 40.6 percent (13-of-32).    Sayyid paced Emory's scoring effort with eight points

Emory returns to action on Sunday (Jan. 18) when it plays at the University of Chicago.