LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's basketball team (2-1) claimed a 61-44 victory over Eastern (0-4) Saturday afternoon in the Diplomats' home opener at the Mayser Center. F&M jumped in front of the Eagles early and never looked back as the home team never surrendered the lead in the contest.

The F&M offense started the game scorching from the field as the Diplomats scored 12-unanswered points to start the contest. Kennedy Wilburn made a layup, followed by Lizzie Neville and Quinn Galligan making back-to-back three pointers to give the Diplomats an 8-0 lead. Layups from Galligan and Gia Sioutis on the next two possession capped the F&M run at 12. From that point, Eastern started chipping away at the Diplomats lead, cutting the deficit to 15-8 after one quarter.

Eastern continued its momentum in the second frame as the Eagles began an 8-2 run to cut the F&M lead to 17-16 with 6:49 left in the quarter. Layups from Ally Trebelev and Sioutis on consecutive possessions helped the Diplomats keep their distance from the Eagles as the quarter was at a near-end. Wilburn connected on a jumper, followed by Steph Sexton splashing a three-pointer to extend the hosts' lead to 28-22 with just under 30 seconds in the half. Eastern made a free throw, but Mackenzie Ward beat the buzzer on a layup on the other end to send F&M into the halftime intermission with a 30-23 lead.

Franklin & Marshall had a fast start to the second half as the Diplomats began the third quarter on an 11-4 run. Trebelev and Wilburn knocked down jumpers to extend the F&M lead to 11. The teams traded baskets to bring the Diplomats' lead to 38-27 with 5:20 remaining in the frame. However, a layup from Trebelev and a free throw from Wilburn capped the run to give Franklin & Marshall a 41-27 lead. The Diplomats later took a 45-31 advantage into the closing quarter.

Franklin & Marshall claimed its largest lead of the day with 1:20 remaining in regulation as Molly Flanagan splashed her first-career three-pointer to give the Diplomats a 20-point advantage.

Trebelev led F&M with 15 points and 11 rebounds to earn her third-career double-double. Neville ended the day with 11 points with four-made free throws in the contest. Galligan also finished in double-digit scoring figures with 10 points and seven rebounds in the win. Wilburn finished one point-shy of earning her second-consecutive double-double as she finished the game with nine points and 13 rebounds.

As a team, F&M shot 36.8 percent (25-for-68) from the field in the win.

Franklin & Marshall looks to keep building on the momentum as it returns to the Mayser Center on Tuesday to host York (Pa.) at 7:30 p.m.