Box Score

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. (November 15, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team opened its 2013-14 season with a 71-67 victory over Eastern University on Friday evening at the Morgan Stanley Tip-Off Tournament hosted by DeSales University. Stevens has won four of its past five season openers.

With the game tied at 67-67, sophomore Miranda Ripken (Fallston, Md.) drew a foul and sank both free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation. Ripken then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and made her next two attempts from the line to close out the win, 71-67.

Ripken went 6-for-7 at the line and scored 10 points with five rebounds.

Eastern drained the first basket of the contest from three-point range to take an early 3-0 lead just 28 seconds into the contest. It took the Ducks 2:16 to record its first points of the season on a layup from Ripken. Stevens then went ahead, 4-3, with 17:12 left in the half on a jumper from senior Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) and essentially held the lead from there on out.

Benjamin paced Stevens with 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor with nine rebounds and two blocks.

The Eagles did jump back in front, 16-14, nearly midway through the first half only to watch Stevens regain the edge on a three from freshman Daphne Ginn (Lawrenceville, N.J.) on the Ducks' next possession.

Eastern's last lead of the game came at the 8:03 mark of the half at 24-22. Stevens pushed its lead out to 33-26 with just over three minutes left in the half and went into the break with a 35-34 edge.

Stevens controlled the second half with the exceptions of two ties at 44-44 and 45-45 with the first eight minutes. The Ducks then went on a 12-5 run over the next seven minutes to go ahead, 57-50 on a pair of free throws by freshman Hannah Brophy (Bridgewater, N.J.).

Over the final 3:04, Eastern fought back to tie the game up at 67-67 before Ripken iced the contest with four free throws.

Sophomore Dylan Krause (Atlanta, Ga.) tallied 13 points and nine boards, while senior Lisa Tessitore (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) scored 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting and was 5-for-5 at the line. Senior Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) narrowly missed double-digit points with nine and registered seven steals.

Stevens shot 40.4-percent from the floor and held Eastern to 36.5-percent. The Ducks were also superb from the line, making 22 of 26 attempts (84.6%) and scored 34 points in the paint to just 16 for the Eagles.

The Ducks play DeSales tomorrow at 4 p.m. to close out the tip-off tournament. DeSales defeated Lycoming College in today's opener, 65-54. Tomorrow's showdown will be available via live stats and video provided by DeSales.

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