LISLE, Ill. - The Edgewood College women's basketball team was neck-and-neck with Benedictine University throughout the first half Saturday afternoon at the Rice Center but failed to overcome poor shooting in the second and ultimately fell 75-63. With the loss the Eagles are now 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

A Mariah Hill jumper with 12 seconds left in the first half put the Eagles up 33-31 but Meghan Novak answered with an old-fashioned three-point play after knocking down a jumper while drawing the foul with one second left in the half. Novak sank the free throw to give Benedictine the 34-33 lead heading into the break.

Benedictine then opened the second half of play with an 8-0 run with six of those points coming from Vincenza Ranallo. With 14:55 left Benedictine led by 11, but Edgewood College would close the gap to just a three-point deficit with a 9-1 run to bring it to 51-48 at the 10:52 mark. Benedictine would push its lead back to double digits less than three minutes after the Eagles pulled within three and never looked back.

Edgewood College shot an impressive 44.8 percent (13-of-29) in the first half but managed only 31.6 percent (12-of-38) in the second. Benedictine pulled away in the second by shooting 51.6 percent (16-of-31).

Nicole Botich led Benedictine with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting with eight rebounds while Ranallo finished with 16 and five. Rachel Pope (14 points) and Mariah Hill (14) again led Edgewood College in scoring while two more Eagles had double figures. Courtney Spangler and freshman Ellyn Hayden both ended with 11 points, while Hayden led the team in rebounds with six. Edgewood College also continued to improve in protecting the ball, as they finished with a single-digit total in turnovers (9). 

Concordia University Wisconsin is up next for Edgewood College. The Eagles and Falcons will battle on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7 pm in Mequon, Wis.