St. Louis, Mo. – The (RV) Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team used a strong fourth quarter to defeat (RV) Emory 78-61 on Sunday afternoon in the Field House. The Bears remain in first place in the UAA standings.
 
The Bears were led by a dominant performance from senior Maya Arnott who scored 26 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out five assists. Junior Jessica Brooks scored 13 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists while first-year Nailah McBeth had 10 points and five rebounds.
 
After exchanging baskets to open the game, the Bears got back-to-back 3-pointers from Brooks and senior Naomi Jackson to go up 8-2 with 5:59 on the clock.
 
Emory went on to tie things up at 14 apiece following a 3-pointer from Claire Brock but the Bears answered with four-straight points from first-year Jordan Rich and Arnott.
 
Back-to-back buckets from McBeth and sophomore Brenna Loftus put the Bears up 24-16 with 8:30 on the clock in the second quarter.
 
With the Bears up eight, Emory hit a 3-pointer and netted a layup to cut the gap to 26-23. Still down three points at the 4:13 mark, a layup from the Eagles' Erin Martin brought Emory within one point, 32-31.
 
Arnott netted a pair of free throws but a 3-pointer from Brock in the final minute sent the teams into halftime tied 34-34.
 
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, the teams exchanged points, with no more than a three-point lead by either team. Then, Arnott hit a pair of free throws and a jumper to put the Bears up 44-39 with just under seven minutes on the clock. Another layup from Arnott extended that lead to seven points, 48-41 with 5:30 remaining.
 
Back-to-back Emory jumpers tied things again at 48 but the Bears put in back-to-back layups to take a four-point edge.
 
WashU opened the fourth quarter with four-straight points to go ahead 58-50. A 3-pointer from Brooks at 7:02 extended the Bears' lead into double-digits. The lead would dip down slightly back into single digits twice, but it would never go below nine points.
 
The Bears closed out the game with the final six points en route to the win.
 
WashU crushed Emory on the boards, out-rebounding the Eagles 37-20. The Bears shot 30-for-55 (54.5%) and 7-for-16 (43.8%) from 3-point range. WashU also hit 11-for-12 free throws (91.7%).
 
Defensively, the Bears held Emory to 22-for-58 (37.9%) shooting and 8-for-21 (38.1%) from 3-point range.
 
WashU is back in action next weekend with road games at Brandeis and NYU.