Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Susquehanna women's basketball team could not overcome a late Catholic rally and fell 65-57 on Friday evening in Washington, D.C.

Both teams entered Friday evening with identical 4-3 Landmark Conference records, but the Crusaders (9-10, 4-4), who led by as many as five points with four minutes to play, allowed the Cardinals (13-6, 5-3) to go on a 15-4 run over the final minutes of the game to put the game out of reach. The loss snapped SU's brief, two-game win streak.

The senior duo of Erika Barron (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua Area) and Rachael Hughes (Gordon, Pa./North Schuylkill) were the lone SU players in double figures as Barron scored 19 points and Hughes added 18. Twelve of Barron's points came from beyond the three-point line and she also finished with a game-best seven assists in her 40 minutes of action.

Hughes, meanwhile, matched teammate Gina Palazzi (Newfoundland, Pa./Wallenpaupack) with a team-best six rebounds. Unfortunately SU struggled on the boards overall, as Catholic held a 41-34 edge in rebounds. The Cardinals also scored 40 of their 65 points in the paint.

SU jumped out to the early 9-4 lead less than five minutes into the action after back-to-back buckets from Hughes.

Hughes kept it a five-point game (15-10) with another layup at the 11:14 mark, her sixth points of the half. Catholic rallied in the form of a 7-0 run that put the Cardinals ahead 17-15 with 8:29 to play.

Another 8-2 stretch from Catholic made it 28-21 with less than four minutes remaining, but the Crusaders put together an even more impressive run over the final minutes of the half. SU out-scored the Cardinals 11-3 with five of those points coming from Barron to put Susquehanna back in the lead, 32-31, at halftime.

It remained a closely contested game throughout the early portion of second half of play. Less than seven minutes into the period, Barron put SU up 40-38 on a trey and her two free throws less than a minute later gave the Crusaders the 42-40 edge.

Palazzi's layup with nine minutes on the clock made it a five-point contest (51-46), marking SU's largest lead since the opening minutes of the game.

The trend of runs continued, this time as a 15-4 Catholic run burned seven minutes off the clock made it 61-55 with less than two minutes remaining.

With 12 seconds on the clock and her team leading 63-57, a Jenny McGann layup made it 65-57 and effectively put the game out of the Crusaders' reach.

Next game: Saturday, Jan. 29 at Goucher – 2 p.m.