Scranton, PA – The Cairn women's basketball team traveled to Marywood on Saturday afternoon to take on the Pacers. The Highlanders could not shake a slow start as the Pacers rolled to a 72-41 victory.
 
The Highlanders struggled to generate offensive throughout the contest, but particularly in the first-quarter. Cairn was held to just four points on a 1-12 effort from the field. Aigner Bookard scored the only points for the Highlanders in the opening ten minutes with a pair of free throws earlier in the quarter and a jumper with 1:42 remaining in the period. At the end of one the Highlanders trailed the Pacers 23-4.
 
The second quarter started much strong than the first for the Highlanders. With three buckets from Madelyn Brodish and a jumper from Kendra Stum the Highlanders cut the Pacers' lead to 27-12 with five minutes remaining in the period. The Pacer regained their composure and went on a 10-3 run to end the half and take a 37-15 lead into the half. During the five minute run for Marywood, the Highlanders were held without a field goal. The only Cairn points came on free throws, one from Brodish and two from EJ Hartzler.
 
Half-time gave the Highlanders a chance to regroup and the visiting squad came out with a new sense of energy to start the third quarter. The Highlanders scored the first eight points of the period with Payton Emerick and Charlotte Camp both scoring their first buckets of the game on jumpers in the early going. Bookard then took a steal to the hole and Emerick put through a layup.
 
After a layup from Marywood's Erika Thomas the Highlanders scored the next five points to extend their run to 13-1 to open the second-half. Cairn later cut the Marywood lead to as few as 12 after a pair of EJ Hartzler free throws at 44-32. After the two sides traded buckets the Pacers held a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Highlanders would not get any closer in the fourth-quarter as Marywood opened the final stanza with a pair of three's from Catie Nealon and two jumpers from Alyssa Olson to start a 16-2 run that slammed the door. The Pacers ran away in the final quarter for the 72-41 win.
 
Madelyn Brodish led nine scorers for the Highlanders with nine points. Kendra Stum grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds in the loss.
 
The loss drops the Highlanders to 4-8 on the season and 1-5 in the CSAC. The Highlanders will next take the floor at home on Monday when The City College of New York travels to Langhorne, game time slated for 6:00 p.m.