ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Cairn University women's basketball team won, 71-63 at Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) foe Cedar Crest College on the road on Saturday, marking their first conference victory of the season. Cairn, who trailed by 17 at halftime (37-20), outscored Cedar Crest 51-26 in the second half to steal the victory.
Cairn (3-3, 1-1 CSAC) and Cedar Crest (1-3, 0-2 CSAC) both had their offenses in a good flow early, leading to a 19-17 advantage for the Falcons after one. Cedar Crest outscored the Highlanders 18-3 in the second period and took a commanding 37-20 lead into intermission.
However, the Highlanders started their comeback midway through the third frame. Cairn trailed 44-24 with 6:23 left in the period, but closed the quarter on a torrid 19-4 run, highlighted by three triples by senior
Dakota Hitchner (Ocean City, NJ / Atlantic Christian) to trim the Falcon advantage to five (48-43). In the fourth, the Highlanders stayed in the game and took their first lead of the contest at 58-57 when Hitcher buried another three with 3:39 remaining, their first lead of the contest.
Both teams traded lead for the next couple minutes and Cairn held a 64-63 advantage with 1:19 remaining. From there, the Highlanders forced a turnover on the Falcons, and freshman
Kailee Sobrino (Vail, AZ / Empire HS) splashed a three to give Cairn a two-possession lead. The Highlanders completed the comeback after Hitchner got a steal and a quick two in transition on the very next possession to ice the game.
Cairn shot 45.6% (26-57) from the field in the contest and 43.8% (7-16) from long range, both season-bests. Cairn forced 27 Falcon turnovers in the contest, scoring 30 points off those turnovers. The Highlanders also dished out 15 assists as a team.
Cairn was led offensively by Hitchner, who lit up the stat sheet with a career-high 33 points (off the bench) on 11-of-20 shooting and was four-of-six from long range. Hitchner also pocketed a game-high five steals and tied a team-high with three assists. Hitchner was seven-of-eight from the charity stripe for the game. Hitchner's 33 points are the third-most points scored in a single game in program history and the most since Dani Norton scored 35 against Valley Forge on November 18, 2008. Hitchner was followed by Sobrino who finished in double figures with 11 points and matched Hitchner with three assists. Classmate
Caroline Conrad (Bangkok, Thailand / International Community School) added nine points and a pair of assists.
Cairn will be back on the court on Tuesday, November 30 when it travels to CSAC adversary Clarks Summit University at 7 p.m.
