Women's Basketball Loses Regular Season Finale; Sets Up Rubber Match with RCU in WHAC Tourney on Monday

(Rochester Hills, MI)--  The Cleary Cougar women's basketball team was on the road for the final game of the regular season Saturday afternoon, but fell to the Rochester Christian Warriors.

The Cougars started the game off slowly, with the Warriors building an early 8-2 lead.  A Mileisha Rodriguez put-back would cut the deficit in half on Cleary's next possession.  After the first quarter media timeout, RCU extended their lead to eight points before the Cougars would finish the quarter strong.  Taedom Stein would score on a layup, followed by a pair of Amy Jackson three pointers to tie the game at 15-15.  RCU would take the lead back before another Mileisha Rodriguez put-back tied the game.  A foul on the Cougars with one second to play would give the Warriors the lead after the first ten minutes of play.

RCU started the second quarter on fire and quickly built a seven point advantage.  The two teams would trade baskets for the next four minutes, but the Warriors' lead would grow to ten with 2:46 to play.  Cleary cut the deficit to six points after back to back baskets by Samantha Hoelscher, but a layup as time expired by RCU made the score 35-43 at the half.

The Warriors would build a twelve point lead through the first four minutes of the third quarter.  Caitlyn Rayl kickstarted the Cougars with a made three, and another Amy Jackson three cut the deficit back to six points.  When Taedom Stein made a layup, the deficit was four points, and after trading baskets, another Taedom Stein layup cut the Warrior lead to two points.  A Samantha Hoelscher three pointer with 35 seconds in the quarter made it a one point game, and that would be the deficit Cleary saw themselves in heading into the final ten minutes.

Cleary would take the lead for the first time in the game on their first fourth quarter possession when Samantha Hoelscher hit a corner three.  RCU would answer with a three of their own, and would take control of the game once again, after a pair of free throws and a three pointer made the Cougar deficit six points.  The game would get away from the Cougars down the stretch, as RCU pulled away to hand Cleary an 88-75 defeat.

Taedom Stein led the Cougars with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.  Samantah Hoelscher added 16 points and 5 rebounds, while Amy Jackson had 14 points and 3 assists.  Mileisha Rodriguez was one rebound shy of a double-double, with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

The loss means the Cougars finish the regular season with a 10-17 record overall, and 9-11 in the WHAC.  Rochester Christian would also finish with a 9-11 WHAC record, and after going to the tiebreaker, Cleary would earn the #8 seed in next week's WHAC tournament, where they will host the #9 seed Rochester Christian Warriors in a win or go home matchup.  The game is tentatively set for 7:00 PM at Gannon Gymnasium on Monday, February 24.