AURORA, Ill. - Edgewood College came back from a slow start to manage a lead early in the second half Saturday afternoon but couldn't overcome a poor shooting effort and fell to Aurora University 64-51. With the defeat the Eagles now sit at 2-7 overall and 2-4 in the NACC.
The Eagles managed just three points in the first seven and a half minutes to go down 16-3 to the Spartans. The Eagles had four turnovers over that span but the Eagles would start hitting shots and trailed by only five at 20-15 with 6:12 left in the first half. Edgewood College trailed 25-22 heading into the break behind Courtney Spangler's six points on 3-of-6 shooting.
Edgewood College pulled within one on the first possession of the second half after two offensive rebounds gave Spangler a pair of second-chance points to make it 25-24. Just a few possessions later the Eagles would have their largest lead of the night (5) after Spangler converted on layups on back-to-back possessions.
Edgewood College would maintain the small lead all the way up until Aurora's Morgan Ricketts scored on layup at the 12:08 mark to tie it at 38. That would be the last time the Eagles would lead in the game, as the two teams would trade points until 5-0 Aurora run put the Spartans up 50-44 with 5:07 to go. The Eagles would score on the next possession to make it 50-46 but would be held scoreless until there were only 24 seconds remaining. By that time the Spartans were in control and had built a 12-point lead.
Spangler finished with a season-high 14 points while Hannah Menzia scored a career-high 11. The duo also combined for 13 of the team's 44 rebounds. The Eagles shot only 25 percent (9-of-36) in the second half compared to a 50 percent (12-of-24) mark from the Spartans.
Shannon Koski scored 27 points on 8-of-26 shooting while Bethany Dorrington added 16 to round out the double-digit scoring for the Spartans. Aurora hit 10 three-pointers on the night on 27 attempts (37.0 percent) and were 10-for-11 from the free throw line.
The Eagles will have a full week of rest before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 20 at Marian. The game will take place in the Sadoff Gymnasium and is set to begin at 2 pm.
