SALISBURY, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte women's basketball team held a lead late in the fourth quarter before ultimately falling 74-71 to Catawba College inside Goodman Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
Looking for their first South Atlantic Conference win of the season, Queens (5-9, 0-8 SAC) used a 3-pointer from freshman
Jaymi Golden near the end of the first quarter to take a brief lead before Catawba (9-6, 4-4 SAC) quickly tied the score at 15-all after the opening 10 minutes of play.
The Indians opened the second period on an 8-3 run to build a five-point advantage before back-to-back Golden free throws tied the score at 30-all with just over three minutes remaining in the half. Catawba held a slight 36-35 lead at intermission despite a 7-for-13 shooting performance from 3-point range by the Royals in the opening half.
Queens outscored Catawba 21-18 in the third quarter as a layup from sophomore
Caitlyn Moore with 12 seconds remaining put her team ahead 56-54 with one quarter left to play.
The Royals carried momentum into the final quarter of action, building a lead of 63-57 following a 3-pointer from senior Carolina Bernardo with 6:47 on the clock. Queens' largest lead came with five minutes remaining as a
Lade Adepoju layup put the visitors ahead by eight points.
However, Catawba used a 10-2 run over a two-minute stretch to tie the score before taking the lead with 2:20 remaining. The two sides went scoreless for the next 1:35 of play until the Indians scored nine of the game's final 13 points to claim the home victory.
Adepoju led all players with 22 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field and 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, to go along with 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season.
Freshman
Tia McMillian chipped in a career-high 14 points, making 4-of-7 attempts from 3-point range, while Golden finished with nine points of her own.
Queens remains on the road for its next contest as the team travels to Mars Hill, N.C. on Saturday, January 19 to take on Mars Hill University at 2 p.m.
