Langhorne, PA – Cairn women's basketball dropped their opening conference game of the season with an 88-43 loss to Neumann University on Wednesday evening. Amie Eppolito was not up to her 21 points per game average but had some help from Aigner Bookard and Payton Emerick.
 
The Knights utilized their height advantage in the game and scored 62 points in the paint and grabbed 57 total rebounds. By comparison, the Highlanders scored 24 points in the paint and pulled down 31 rebounds.
 
Neumann ended the first quarter with the slight advantage, 15-10, and continued to build off of that throughout the game. The Knights held the lead throughout the game and were led by JoHanna Metzger with 24 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Aigner Bookard led the Highlanders with 15 points, while Payton Emerick had a season-high performance of 12 points and six rebounds. Emerick also had the best field goal percentage, going 5-11 from the field with 2-3 from three-point range.
 
Eppolito finished with just six points, shooting 3-19 overall. The Highlanders also struggled from the charity stripe, converting on five of 16 attempts. Cairn collected just three points from players off the bench, while nearly half of Neumann's points came from their non-starters.
 
With the loss, Cairn dropped to 0-5 overall and 0-1 in the CSAC. Neumann improved to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference with the win. The Highlanders will next host Cedar Crest College on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 1 p.m.