Emory Women's Basketball Tops Covenant -- Captures Tip-Off Tournament

Stats

The Emory women's basketball team captured its third straight Tip-Off Tournament championship Saturday evening as it posted a 73-61 triumph over Covenant College.  The win evened the Eagles' record at 2-2 while Covenant slipped to 1-3.

Emory senior Whitney Martin led all scorers with a career-high 17 points and nine rebounds and was aided by senior Keenan Whitesides who totaled 15 points, her fourth contest of double-figure scoring this season, and sophomore Becca Feldman who came off the bench to register a career-high 11 points.

Covenant led by a 9-6 margin before Emory went on a 21-5 scoring spree that enabled it to claim a 27-14 lead with 7:25 left in the first half.  Whitesides and Martin accounted for 17 of the 21 points in that stretch with Whitesides picking up nine and Martin eight.  Covenant responded with a run of its own, outscoring the Eagles 15-2, and tying the game at 29-29 with 3:16 remaining.  Emory then regrouped and closed out the opening stanza with an 11-2 spurt, keyed by four points by Feldman, to take a 40-31 edge at halftime.  Martin scored a dozen points during the opening 20 minutes while Whitesides chipped in 11.  The Eagles sank 45.2 percent (14-of-31) from the floor in the first half while holding Covenant to 37.0 percent (10-of-27).

Emory held a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half and built a15-point cushion, its biggest bulge of the game, at 58-43 with 7:14 remaining following a basket by Feldman.  Covenant went on a late 6-0 scoring streak that cut a 12-point Emory edge to six points with 2:00 remaining, but a pair of free throws by Martin followed by a three-point field goal by sophomore Sally Peterson boosted the Eagles' lead to 69-58 with less than a minute left.

Emory returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 24, when it hosts Maryville College in a 6:00 p.m. tip.