Bison fall at No. 15 Carnegie Mellon, 66-54

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Dec. 8) – Despite entering the fourth quarter with the lead, the Bison were defeated by No. 15 Carnegie Mellon 66-54 at the Skibo Gymnasium Thursday evening in non-conference play.

The Bethany College women's basketball team drops to 3-5 overall, while the Tartans, ranked No. 15 in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III poll, improve to 8-0 this season.

Senior guard Hayley Holenka (Shadyside, Ohio/Shadyside) led the Bison with 25 points and added six rebounds and two assists to her final line. Sophomore guard Ashley Duthie (Madison, Ohio/Madison) added 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting with seven rebounds, while junior forward Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) nearly registered a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.

Carnegie Mellon led by as many as eight points in the first quarter, before a 7-2 spurt by the Bison over the final three minutes of the opening period trimmed the Tartan lead to 18-13 at the first intermission.

The Tartans rebuilt their lead to nine at 28-19 with 4:17 left in the first half, but Bethany out-scored the hosts 9-2 to end the half to pull within two, 30-28, heading into the locker rooms.

Bethany had its best run in the third quarter. The Bison and Tartans traded the lead over the first eight minutes, before a Duthie drained a three pointer and a jumper in the final 1:15 of the third period to put the Bethany up 45-42 heading into the final quarter.

Carnegie Mellon took control of the game in the fourth. The Tartans scored 13-unanswered points to open the final period, before a Holenka layup ended the run and made the score 55-47 with 5:18 left in the game. Carnegie Mellon went on to out-score the Bison 24-to-9 in the fourth quarter to remain unbeaten on the season.

Bethany finished the game shooting 33 percent from the field (23-for-69), compared to the 40 percent (26-for-64) posted by the Tartans. Carnegie Mellon struggled from long range, shooting 1-for-19 (five percent), while the Bison ended the contest shooting 5-for-18 (28 percent) from beyond-the-arc.

Tartan center Lisa Murphy tallied a double-double with 25 points and 19 rebounds (10 offensive), while guard Jackie Hudepohl added 14 points and 12 rebounds (three offensive) in the win.

Bethany will head to Crestview Hills, Kentucky on Saturday, December 10 to take on Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) foe and No. 4 ranked Thomas More at 1 p.m.