Fredericksburg, Va.-- The University of Mary Washington women's basketball team defeated St. Mary's (Md.), 69-52 on Saturday. The Eagles forced 24 turnovers to improve to 5-2, 2-1 CAC on the year. 

The Eagles got out of the gates quickly, going on a 6-0 run in the first 1:22 of the game. The Seahwaks would respond, coming all the way back to force a 14-14 tie, which made head coach Deena Applebury call a timeout.

UMW went on a 7-2 run of their own, capped by an Aubrey Howland three to give the Eagles a 23-16 advantage. The Eagles would end the half up 40-25. Aby Diop paced UMW with nine points, adding three rebounds in the opening half. Freshman Brianne Comden chipped in eight points, while senior Sam Partonen added six points and six assists. The Eagles as a team shot 54.5% from the field. 

St. Mary's (Md.) came out in the second stanza looking to cut into the deficit. The Seahawks went on a 5-0 run to cut the Eagle lead to ten. Sophomore Sarah Listenbee ended the run thanks in part to a jumper, extending the lead back to 12. 

It was another St. Mary's run, this time 7-2 to get the deficit back down to 10 at 47-37 with 12 minutes remaining. The Eagles, however would respond. 

A 9-2 run by UMW pushed the lead back to 56-40 and they would not look back from there. The lead never went below 12 the rest of the way, and the Eagles would go on to win 69-52.

Partonen led the way for the Eagles with 13 points, adding eight assists and five steals. Diop, Claire Haeuptle and Megan Green all reached double figures in scoring at ten, 11 and ten respectively. The Eagles shot 42.6% from the field for the game, forcing 24 turnovers. "Defense is important, we work on it everyday," Partonen said about her teams defensive performance on Saturday. 

The Eagles return to action this Thursday and Friday in Puerto Rico. UMW faces Widner on Thursday and Alvernia on Friday as part of the Puerto Rico Shootout.