Marian Hands the Eagles Their First Loss of the Season

Marion, IN - The Eagles Women's Basketball Team traveled to Indiana for the weekend to play in the Leah Whitaker Memorial Classic against Marian University and Indiana Wesleyan on Friday and Saturday respectively. The Knights of Marian University are ranked #7 in the NAIA Top 25 Poll and Indiana Wesleyan comes in at #11. Both games will be a true test to a young Eagles Basketball Team just trying to get a feel for each other at the start of this season.

It would not take long for Marian to jump out to a lead against the Eagles and once they had the lead - they would not let go. The Eagles actually held things tight for the first five to seven minutes of the first quarter and had a couple of leads, but by the end of the first ten minutes - the Knights had established a seven-point lead.

The lead for Marian would quickly hit double-digits and keep moving up by the end of the second quarter. The game went into halftime with the Eagles down by eighteen. This lead would hold throughout the second half with the Knights eventually coming out on top 68-45.

Hopefully, this trip can be used as a team bonding and building experience. The Eagles will be able to be competitive during the AAC season and they have shown early that they can play with the conference's top teams by knocking off Bryan at their place. As the youth and newcomers to this team start gelling with the old veterans - this team will flourish under Coach Wagoner and possibly once again push for the AAC title.

One of the bright spots of the game was Ashley Woodroffe scoring 14 points and Avanna Preston getting just shy of double-digits at 8 points. Preston also brought down 7 boards in the game.

The Eagles will need to put this behind them quick and get ready to play again on Saturday against the talented Indiana Wesleyan squad.  After Saturday's game, the Eagles will make the long trip back to Waleska and start preparing for their three AAC games in the upcoming week.