MADISON, Wis. – Edgewood College put together a strong showing in the first quarter and trailed Wartburg College (7-1) by only seven points at the half before the Knights' dominating post players took over in the second half to pull away Saturday afternoon at the Edgedome. Wartburg came out on top 57-41 and the Eagles dropped to 2-7 overall on the season.
The Eagles began the game red hot from beyond the arc, as Rachel Pope hit two three-pointers and Zoey Dougherty added another in just a 2:25 span to grab a 9-8 lead over the long and athletic Knights. Two Dougherty free throws, a Sierra Jiran free throw and an Allison Gordon jumper from the paint gave the Eagles a six-point lead at 14-8 with 3:09 left in the first.
Jiran would hit another jumper from the paint to give the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 16-8 with 1:27 left in the quarter but the Knights would score the final two buckets in the frame.
The Eagles would hold that lead until Wartburg's Kailey Kladivo nailed a jumper with 7:06 left in the second to knot things at 18 apiece. From there the Knights would go on a 12-5 run to end the half and would lead 30-23 heading into the locker room. 16 of Wartburg's 18 points in the second period alone came in the paint.
A Hannah Euting bucket in the early goings of the third period would bring the Eagles to within seven points at 32-25 but the Knights continued to exploit the Eagles down low and would lead by double digits from the 6:07 mark on in the third period.
The Eagles had five different players score in the final period as they outscored the Knights 9-4 in the fourth.
Pope led the Eagles with 13 points and also grabbed five rebounds while dishing out two assists. Zoey Dougherty was just shy of the double-digit mark with nine points while Erin Morovits finished third on the team with six. Gordon finished with six boards to lead the team while Sydney Smith tied with Pope for second with five.
The Eagles are off until the Just A Game Tournament in the Wisconsin Dells. They will kick off the tournament with a 3 pm game against UW-Whitewater on Dec. 30 and will wrap up the trip with a 1 pm game against UW-Stevens Point on Dec. 31.
