Box Score

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Up by one with 7:33 to play, the Susquehanna women's basketball team was in prime position to pull off the upset of visiting Catholic University but fell just short in an eventual 71-63 loss to the Cardinals.

The Crusaders (11-10, 5-6) led by as many as eight points and held Catholic (17-4, 10-1) to an 18.8 percent effort from three-point range. Mariah Monahan (Towanda, Pa./Towanda Area) poured in a game-best 24 points to go along with four assists while Nikki Komara (Shamokin, Pa./Lourdes) added 15 points and a team-high seven assists.

Catholic's Emily Grabiak finished with a team-high 19 points, including the 1000^th of her career.

The Cardinals had 30 points in the paint to SU's 16 and pulled down 47 rebounds while holding Susquehanna to just 29.

The Crusaders never trailed in the first half and held a four-point lead (12-8) after just five minutes of action. The Cardinals were able to knot it at 12 before a 10-4 SU run upped the team's lead to six, 22-16, at the 11:05 mark of the half.

That lead grew to eight, 28-20, on a Sofia Schedler (Alexandria, Va./TC Williams) jumper with eight minutes to play and Candence Cannady's (Chicago, Ill./Whitney M. Young Magnet) jumper just over a minute later kept it an eight-point contest (30-22). The Cardinals countered with eight unanswered points for a 30-30 game but Komara drained a bucket with 27 seconds left to give SU the 34-32 edge at halftime.

Less than five minutes into the second half, Kerri Zelenak's (Mt. Pleasant, Pa./Mt. Pleasant) jumper maintained SU's two-point advantage (41-39) before Catholic's Michelle Desantis tied it at 41. Desantis proceeded to score the go-ahead bucket on the team's next possession for a 43-41 score at the 14:24 mark.

For the next seven minutes the lead swapped hands with neither team taking more than a three-point edge. Kristin Walheim of Catholic made it a 58-56 Cardinals lead with 6:22 to play and Catholic would not relinquish that lead over the remaining minutes of the game.

A Cannady layup with 1:56 on the clock did trim the lead to three, 64-61, but five made free throws by the Cardinals down the stretch ended SU's chance at a comeback.

The Crusaders remain at home to host Moravian on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. Saturday marks Pepsi Day for the men's and women's basketball programs and the women's team will also be honoring Karyn Kern Pinter '01 at halftime of their game for her recent induction into the MAC Hall of Fame.