Women’s Game
The Battle of Eagle Road has been a tradition that both teams look forward to every year. Cabrini’s men’s and women’s basketball teams competed head to head with rival Eastern University on Tuesday night at six and eight o’clock here at Nerney Field House.
The Eagles were able to outlast the Cavaliers in a tough game that ended with a final score of 59-53. It was the season opener for both teams. This showed throughout the night as both teams struggled with turnovers and low shooting percentages. The teams battled it out in front of a high energy crowd.
“I could feel how big of a game this was,” forward Myonie Williamson said. “Even watching the crowd as they were coming in as we warmed up, we could tell it was going to be a really big game.”
Cabrini’s leading scorer for the night was junior forward Kate Skalski, who finished the game with 13 points and three turnovers. Eastern’s leading scorer was Emily Lavin who had a total of 16 points and six rebounds. There were four Eastern players that scored in double digits.
For some on the team, it was the first time they got to experience the battle.
“It is such a cool tradition to take part of,” freshman forward Pattie Fortescue said. “I feel like we could’ve done more and ran plays better.”
For Fortescue’s first game at Cabrini, she had threes all across the board in points, turnovers, assists and rebounds.
Sabrina Hackendorn, starting forward, was injured requiring her to sit out the rest of the game. Tuesday’s game on Nov. 18, 2016, against Moravian College, will determine if Hackendorn is ready to play again.
“It’s a great atmosphere for our players. You can definitely feel the excitement in the crowd,” Cabrini women’s basketball coach Kate Pearson said. “We adjusted a bit better in the second half but some of those turnovers were very costly.”
Photos by Paige Wagner/Photo for Pub
Men’s Game
As for the battle of Eagle Road on the men’s side, the Cavaliers were able to take care of business. Cabrini handed rival Eastern its first loss of the season with a 81-66 victory.
“I think for us, this was a great team win,”captain and guard, Ivan Robinson said. “When things got tough, we came together and got stops when we needed to.”
As the opening game for both teams, turnovers favored the Cavaliers, who had 13 turnovers with Eastern only tallying four. Six players racked up double digits in the game. For Cabrini it was Monroe with 26, Robinson with 17 and Bagwell with 12. As for Eastern Turk had 25, Kurnick had 11 and Pena had 10.
“I try not the look at the season but game by game, and so far it is looking better,” Tyheim Monroe said.
Along with a game high 26 points, junior forward Tyheim Monroe had four assists on the night.
“It was a big game for us, especially coming up from the loss last year,” Monroe said.
Men’s head basketball coach, Tim McDonald, was very content with the results of tonight’s game. McDonald enters into his third year as Cabrini men’s basketball head coach in 2016-17.
Overall, it was a split night for the cavaliers.
“It’s always a tough way to open up, but everyone comes and brings their energy and their A game because it is such a good rivalry,” McDonald said.
Photos by Paige Wagner/Photo for Pub
