ST. LOUIS, Mo. – A late surge by the Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team sent its two seniors, Jessica Brooks and Brenna Loftus, out on a high note as the Bears completed a comeback on Sunday afternoon to defeat Emory, 83-66, from inside the Field House on Senior Day.
The win gave WashU the season sweep of the Eagles after defeating their Atlanta opponent 67-56 on the road back on Jan. 26.
Setting a new season-high, sophomore Lexy Harris led the Bears in scoring with 33 points, breaking her previous season-high of 27 points from the season-opener against Edgewood. She also grabbed 10 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. For the weekend she averaged 29 points and 10.5 rebounds.
Brooks, playing in her last regular season home game, scored 21 to help the Bears to the win while sophomore Sidney Rogers also reached double-figures with 13 points.
In a reversal of most of the season, WashU trailed in rebounds but scored more points off of turnovers (22-8) than the Eagles did. It was also a tale of two halves as the Bears shot 39% (1st) and 25% (2nd) in the first half before getting hot at the end with 53% (3rd) and 71.4% (4th) to complete the comeback.
Both teams jumped out of the gate quickly, each making their first three shot attempts as the Bears led 9-7 after a pair of made free throws by Loftus at 8:13. Emory would try to pull away scoring the next five points, but the Bears stayed close, tying the score on an "and one" play by Harris at 4:50, 14-14.
With the score tied at 18, the Eagles were able to score a layup with 1:45 left in the quarter to take a two-point lead into the second period.
A layup from junior Nailah McBeth at 9:09 brought the Bears back within one at 23-22. However, Emory went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to jump ahead by 11, 33-22 at 6:17. They would extend it by one more to 37-24 with just under five minutes left in the first half before WashU was able to bring their deficit to singles digits on a three pointer from Rogers at 1:30.
A pair of free throws from Brooks with 41 seconds left on the clock saw the Eagles take a nine-point lead into the locker room.
Emory once again had a hot start to a half, bringing their lead back up to 13, 50-37, with 6:32 left in the third quarter. But that is when the Bears took off while scoring while their defense went into overdrive.
Just three minutes later, on a jumper from sophomore Catherine Goodwin, the Bears brought themselves back within just one point at 52-51 at 3:35. A pair of made free throws by Brooks at 1:30 gave the Bears the lead once again, 55-54 before seeing the scoreboard tied at 57-57 as they headed to the fourth quarter.
The Eagles scoring went cold to start the fourth period, not finding the basket until 6:58, a span of 3:56 without scoring. In the meantime, the Bears had added nine points in less than two minutes to take a 64-57 lead at 8:13.
It was nearly three more minutes before the Eagles scored again as WashU increased their lead from five to 16 during that stretch. The Bears pushed their lead to as many as 21 on a jumper from Harris at :53 on the clock before subbing out the two seniors for a standing ovation and settling in for the 83-66 win.
WashU has one more regular season contest on Saturday, March 1 when they travel to Chicago. Tip-off with the Maroons is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start at the Ratner Athletic Center.
