Junior Khadijah Sayyid led all players with 11 points and eight rebounds, and the Emory women's basketball team used a smothering second-half defensive effort on Friday in coming away with a victory at Guilford College.  The Eagles won for the fourth time in the past five contests and raised their record to 7-3 following a 60-39 decision over the Quakers who slipped to 7-3.

Emory connected on 38.8 percent (26-of-67) of its field goal opportunities while holding Guilford to 29.6 percent (16-of-54), the third time this year it held an opponent to less than 30 percent from the floor.  The Eagles clamped down on the Quakers over the final 20 minutes, holding the host squad to just 20 percent (6-of-30) from the field while posting a decisive 28-13 scoring advantage.   Guilford did close out the game with a 46-39 edge in rebounding but was stymied by an Emory defense that forced 24 turnovers which the Eagles parlayed in 22 points.    Guilford's 39 points tied the lowest point total by an Emory opponent this year and tied the fifth-lowest mark against a Christy Thomaskutty-coached squad during her 12 years at the helm of the Eagles' program.

Sayyid sank five-of-14 field goal tries, including one three-point field goal, en route to her eighth double-figure scoring effort of the campaign.  Sophomore Michelle Bevan and freshman Dumebi Egbuna each contributed 10 points and three rebounds in the victory.  Junior Sarah Arington and freshman Mikaila Schmitt, seeing action for the first time since Dec. 8, added eight and six points, respectively.

Emory opened the second half on a 12-5 run that stretched a 32-26 halftime lead into a 44-31 bulge with 12:46 left in the contest.   After a bucket by the Quakers cut Emory's lead to 11 points, the Eagles put a stranglehold on the game, rattling off a 12-2 burst, four points coming from Sayyid, to race to a 56-35 margin with 3:14 on the clock.  Nine of the 10 Emory players who saw action found their way into both the scoring and rebounding columns. 

Guilford led by a 24-21 margin with 5:15 left in the first half before Emory closed out the stanza on an 11-2 blitz, with four different players scoring in that stretch, including a three-pointer by freshman Lauren Weems, in taking the six-point edge at the break.   Bevan, Arington and Egubuna all scored six first-half points for the Eagles.

Emory returns to action on Monday (Jan. 5) when it travels to No. 23-ranked Rhodes (10-1).