The Emory women's basketball opened a home weekend of University Athletic Association play on Friday evening with a loss at home to Washington University.   The Eagles saw their overall record fall to 11-10, 3-7 in the league, following a 70-50 setback to the No. 6-ranked Bears who raised their overall mark to 20-1, 9-1 in the conference.

Junior Ilene Tsao was the lone Emory player to finish with double-figure scoring, totaling 12 points, her fifth performance of the year with 10 or more points.  Tsao also led all players with a season-high nine rebounds.  Sophomore Fran Sweeney and junior Khadijah Sayyid each finished with eight points. 

Senior Melissa Gilkey spearheaded the WU scoring effort, leading three double-digit scorers with 20 points.  Jordan Thompson and Maddy Scheppers each chipped in 11 points.

The Bears ended the night hitting 41.7 percent (25-of-60) from the floor compared to Emory's 28.4 percent (19-of-67).  WU was successful on 15-of-21 from the charity stripe and held a slim 43-40 advantage on the glass. 

Emory went into halftime down by a 37-16 margin with its point total a season low for a half.  The Eagles sank just 20.6 percent (7-of-34) of their field goal attempts compared to WU's mark of 38.2 percent (13-of-34).  The Bears rattled off an 11-0 spurt that gave them an 18-6 lead with 11:23 in the stanza, and later used a 12-3 run in propelling them to their biggest lead of the half, 37-14, with just under a minute left.  Sayyid scored six points to lead Emory while Gilkey totaled 15 points to pace the visitors.

The Eagles attempt to get back into the game hit a roadblock early in the second half as the Bears opened the stanza on a 10-0 run, capped by a three pointer  by Thompson, to bolt to a 47-16 cushion.  Emory responded with seven straight points, five coming from Tsao, to narrow the gap, but WU answered by scoring 10 of the game's next 13 points, to re-take a 31-point edge, 57-26 with 11:11 on the clock.   Wash U would lead by as many as 35 points before a 22-7 flurry by the Eagles, with Sweeney picking up eight points, over the final 6:32 accounted for the final score.

The Eagles return to action on Sunday (Feb. 15) when they host the University of Chicago.