AMHERST, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst women's basketball team had their five-game winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon as they dropped their first game of the season by a final of 82-64 to the 20th-ranked Daemen College Wildcats at Lumsden Gymnasium.

After the home side took the early 2-0 advantage, Meghan Komendarek made sure it was short lived by knocking down her fourth triple of the season to make it 3-2 just under two minutes in.  Daemen seized control with a 10-0 run on buckets from Alahna Paige, Tiara Filbert, Caroline White and Marina Maerkl to make it 12-3.  Nicolette Arnold and Julia Buchman each stuck a three-pointer during the remainder of the quarter.  However, the Wildcats outpaced the Lakers 7-6 to lead 19-9 after one.  

Arnold continue the visitors scoring with another trey cutting the margin to 21-12, but White answered right back with a shot from deep pushing it back to 24-12 with less than a minute gone.  Mercyhurst finally scored from somewhere other than beyond the arc with a layup from Komendarek and foul shots by Jayde Boyd bringing the deficit under double-digits 24-16.  Mary Foster, White and Filbert made sure the visitors momentum came to an abrupt halt as they went on a 12-3 charge which was capped off by a three ball from Autumn Buchsenschutz to make it 36-19.  Arnold, Buchman and Boyd supplied the rest of the Lakers offense in the half leaving them down 44-25 at the break.

Katie Titus and Filbert came out firing to start the third going on a 9-0 run over the opening 3:30 to stretch the advantage to 53-25.  The Lakers kept fighting as Grace Centrulla, Paige Woodford and Boyd led a 6-2 charge to get within 55-31 at the halfway point.  Woodford scored five of the visitors final seven points of the period, with Boyd picking up the other two to leave their side trailing 67-38 through 30-minutes.  

Emily Shopene and Woodford both hit from deep early in the fourth, while Buchman converted a layup to finish up an 8-3 charge to make it 70-46, three minutes gone.  The Lakers continued their three-point shooting with Buchman and Woodford cashing in from long rang to bring the score to 77-54 with 4:16 left.  Lauren Klare, Brittini Martin and Emma McDermott supplied the rest of the visitors offense, but it would not be enough as it finished 82-64.

Team Stat Pack
Field Goal % - Hurst, 37.9% (22-58) / Daemen, 50% (29-58)
Three Point % - Hurst, 38.2% (13-34) / Daemen, 42.3% (11-26)
Foul Shooting % - Hurst, 70% (7-10) / Daemen, 86.7% (13-15)
Rebounds - Hurst, 30 / Daemen, 37
Points in Paint - Hurst, 16 / Daemen, 22 
Turnovers - Hurst, 15 / Daemen, 12 
Blocks - Hurst, 2 / Daemen, 1

Mercyhurst Individual Stats
Points - Woodford (14), Buchman (12), Arnold and Boyd (9), Komendarek and Martin (5)
Rebounds - Komendarek (9), Klare (4), Arnold (3)
Assists - Centrulla, Komendarek, Shopene and Woodford (2)
Blocks - Buchman and Centrulla (1)

Daemen Individual Stats
Points - Filbert (20), White (17), Titus (13)
Rebounds - White (11)

On Deck
The Lakers will return to the road on Tuesday, January 19th when they head to Rochester to battle the Redhawks of Roberts Wesleyan College at 7pm.