Baltimore, MD – Cairn's
Amie Eppolito scored 24 points on her way to 1,000 for her career on Wednesday when the Highlanders played Notre Dame of Maryland University. Unfortunately the Highlanders were narrowly defeated 54-53 after leading the game most of the way.
Eppolito needed 20 points to reach the milestone of 1,000 points going into the game and she hit 7-17 shots from the floor, including 6-11 from three-point range.
Following Eppolito was
Kendra Stum who recorded her best game of the season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Payton Emerick continues to lead the team in rebounding this season and pulled down 12 rebounds, adding nine points in the process.
Cairn started the game strong and tried to ride the wave throughout the game. The Highlanders jumped out to a 12-2 lead and finished the first quarter with a 19-14 advantage.
The Gators tied the game twice in the second quarter but the Highlanders held on and brought the lead back to four, 32-28, going into halftime.
Zaria Comer led the scoring for the Gators with 13; Ashley Guy and Stephanie Roche both scored 10 points for Notre Dame. Guy led the team in rebounding with 10 total.
Cairn stayed in the lead throughout the third quarter and kept a four-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes. The Gators then took the lead with 7:42 left to play on an Ashley Guy layup and increased the lead to seven over the next two minutes.
The Highlanders brought the deficit back down over the next four minutes of the quarter by going on a 6-0 run. With the score now at 52-51, Comer hits a jumper to stretch the lead to 54-51 with 26 seconds on the clock.
Cairn was unable to hold on to the ball on their next possession but was able to foul Notre Dame twice to send them to the free-throw line with seconds to spare. Comer then missed both of her free throws to give the ball back to the Highlanders with 0:02 on the clock.
With hardly enough time to get a shot off on the inbounds pass, the Highlanders got the ball to Eppolito to put up a three and she got fouled on the shot. Eppolito then headed to the line with a chance to tie the game. The leading scorer held fate in her hands but converted on two out of the three chances and the team lost by a point.
With the loss, Cairn dropped to 3-12 overall and 3-5 in the conference. Notre Dame improved to 6-10 overall and 2-6 in the CSAC with the win. The Highlanders will return to the court this weekend, barring a winter storm, when they host Rosemont College.
