Box Score

Langhorne, PA - Cairn University's women's basketball team fell short in a defensive struggle at home in conference league play. Long-time rivals Baptist Bible College were in town for a late season showdown and the Highlanders had a chance to leapfrog their rivals in the standings with a win.

Hannah McCardle continues to be red-hot down the final stretch of the season as she finished with a game-high 15 points and gathered 7 boards for the Highlanders. Erin Greenwood dropped 8 points and 7 rebounds. Ruth Nelson made her presence known in the paint with 10 rebounds.

BBC were led by Carissa Erdman with 14 points and Maeghan Mueller with 13 points.

Neither team shot particularly well throughout the game, with the Defenders finishing around 33% and the Highlanders a little less accurate at 27%.

Cairn had the upperhand for most of the first half, leading most of the way. The Highlanders jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held it until the Defenders tied things up at 9-9. BBC would gain the lead for a couple of minutes in the middle of the half, but Cairn would battle back and regain the lead at the 8:12 mark, 14-13. The Highlanders would either be leading or tied with the Defenders over the final 8 minutes, but couldn't break away as the teams went into the break at 20-20.

Thanks to a disparity of 22-6 in points off of turnovers, the Defenders would make the second half all theirs. Baptist would nearly double the Highlanders offensive output in the second half, outscoring their host 29-15 in the second stanza. When not scoring off of turnovers, BBC were also holding a 16-6 advantage off of points in the paint.

With less than nine minutes to play, Baptist clung to only a 33-30 lead. A monster 14-0 from the 8:46 mark to the 1:50 broke the game wide open and made what was otherwise a close game look more like a blowout. BBC now held a 47-30 lead with two minutes remainig and things were pretty much wrapped up at that point.

The game finished 49-35.

Cairn is now 2-20, 2-13.

Valley Forge Christian College comes to town on Monday in a non-conference game. Tip-off is scheduled for 6pm.