From University of Chicago Athletics
A 19-point swing in the second half gave the University of Chicago women's basketball team enough momentum to defeat No. 19-ranked Emory University 85-76 on Friday.
The Maroons improved to 11-8 overall and 5-3 in the UAA. The Eagles fell to 15-4 overall and 4-4 in conference.
Emory came after UChicago with an active full-court press that forced turnovers, but the Eagles struggled to convert on the other end. The Maroons worked hard to break the press and went ahead 11-7 after senior guard Julie Muguira's three-pointer. Freshman forward Britta Nordstrom made her presence felt in the post by drawing fouls. She netted two free throws at 15-9 and then finished off a three-point play with another free throw at 18-13.
The Maroons had the size advantage and pulled down a number of defensive rebounds in the first half. Meanwhile, Emory was forcing turnovers off inbounds plays and getting easy points going the other way. The Eagles picked off bad passes and went on a 12-2 run to take the lead at 25-22.
Junior guard Morgan Donovan gave the lead back to UChicago at 26-25 with a driving floater through traffic. Muguira then caught fire right before halftime with back-to-back threes that helped stake the home side to a narrow 39-38 lead at the break.
Emory was held to only 36.4 percent shooting compared to an efficient 56.5 percent shooting by UChicago. However, the Eagles negated that percentage gap by harassing UChicago into 20 turnovers while pulling down 13 offensive rebounds that led to second-chance points. Muguira led the Maroons with nine points while Nordstrom added seven points.
In the second half, the Maroons got off to a rough start with more turnovers and found themselves in a 46-39 hole. Coming out of a timeout, everything started to go UChicago's way. The home team switched to a zone defense that effectively slowed down the high-paced Eagles and cut out one-on-one drives to the basket. The Maroons jumped all the visitors with a 21-2 run over the next six minutes that put them firmly in control at 60-48.
During that streak, Donovan hit a three-pointer and Muguira was fouled on a trey attempt, making two of three from the line to tie the score at 46-46. Junior guard Claire Devaney scored a layup and was fouled for a three-point play at 53-46 and followed up with a three-pointer out of the corner at 56-48.
The visitors did not go away easily, however. The Eagles were beastly on the offensive glass, finishing the game with a massive 27-4 edge in that category. The second-chance points brought them within six points on several occasions. UChicago freshman guard Stephanie Anderson came up with a steal at the top of the arc and drove the other way for a layup at 74-64 and a jumper by Devaney pushed the lead back to 12 points. The Maroons held sway from there and wrapped up the final three minutes with a comfortable lead intact.
Devaney was once again the go-to scorer with 20 points on a perfect 9-for-9 shooting from the field. The junior was consistently around the basket scoring layups behind her defenders. Over her past four games, she is shooting an astonishing 81.6 percent from the field with 18.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Muguira tallied 18 points while hitting 4 of 8 from three-point range.
In the final game statistics, Emory finished with 89 shots compared to only 45 shots by UChicago. The Eagles led in rebounds 44-35 and forced 33 turnovers. The Maroons countered with their own sizable advantage from three-point range (10 of 23) and from the charity stripe (23 of 28).