Women's Basketball Loses Heartbreaker at Cornerstone

(Grand Rapids, MI)-- After digging themselves into a double-digit hole, the Cleary Cougar women's basketball team stormed all the way back and had a chance to win on the game's final possession.

Cornerstone would get things going first, and scored on their first three possessions to take a 7-0 early lead.  Amy Jackson would get the Cougars on the board with a layup, and Taedom Stein would pick the Golden Eagles' pocket and add a layup herself.  The Golden Eagles would make some shots, and the lead would grow to as many as thirteen points in the opening quarter.  Rylee Thomas would hit a three, and Samantha Hoelscher added a layup to cut the deficit to eleven points by the end of the quarter.

Cleary would continue to claw their way back into the game, and with just over five minutes to play in the half, Izzy Dugal scored a layup to make the score 25-32.  After regaining a double-digit lead late in the half, Dugal would knock down an and-one basket and convert the free throw, and Samantha Hoelscher added a pair of free throws to make the score 38-32 at the half.

Cleary would cut the lead to four points on a Taedom Stein layup, and after a Cornerstone three, Samantha Hoelscher scored a layup to get the deficit at five points with just over six minutes in the third quarter.  Taedom Stein would score a layup to make the Golden Eagle lead only three points, and Stein would knock down a jumper to make the score 47-48 with three minutes left in the quarter.  Cornerstone would finish the quarter on a 12-2 run, and led 59-49 with ten minutes to play. 

The fourth quarter started well for the home team, as they built a fourteen point lead with 7:16 to play.  The rest of the game would be all Cleary, as the Cougars would outscore the Golden Eagles 20-7 over the final 7:15 of game action.  A Samantha Hoelscher jumper would cut the deficit to ten points, and an Amy Jackson three would cut the deficit to seven points with five minutes still to play.  Mileisha Rodriguez would score a layup with just over three minutes to go to cut the lead to three points for the Golden Eagles.  Cornerstone would score on their next possession with 2:51 to play to make the score 72-67.  After getting fouled, Taedom Stein would make her two free throws, and an Amy Jackson layup with 1:13 to play would cut the score to 72-71.  Cleary would get two consecutive stops on defense, but were unable to score the go-ahead basket.  Still trailing by one with four seconds to go, Cleary had the ball under their offensive basket and got the ball on the block to Taedom Stein.  Stein's layup attempt just before the horn sounded would be blocked by Stephanie Ainsworth of Cornerstone, and the Goldnen Eagles held on to win 72-71.

Samantha Hoelscher led Cleary with 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.  Taedom Stein had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.  Amy Jackson added 13 points with a pair of made threes, and Mileisha Rodriguez had 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Cleary falls to 3-9 overall, 2-3 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will return to action on Wednesday, December 18, when they host the Rochester Christian Warriors at Gannon Gymnasium for a WHAC matchup at 5:30 PM.