The University of Mary Washington women's basketball team dropped a 65-54 decision at 18th ranked Salisbury University on Saturday in a matchup for first place in the Capital Athletic Conference standings. The Eagles fall to 16-5 overall and 12-2 in league play.
After a tight, back and forth effort in the opening minutes, the Eagles ran up a 12-7 lead with 13:27 remaining on a Kayla Parks lay in. Salisbury cut the lead to two on a three pointer with 10:26 to go, but junior Sarah Listenbee hit a pair of jumpers to keep UMW ahead.
The Eagles used a Megan Green layup with 5:01 left to build its lead to 22-15. Eight straight points from the Sea Gulls allowed them to take the lead with 2:46 remaining, but Listenbee hit two jumpers down the stretch to keep the lead at 28-25 in the final minute. Salisbury hit a jumper and then a free throw with one second left to tie the score heading to intermission, 28-28.
Salisbury opened the second half with a three pointer, but four Brianne Comden free throws gave UMW the lead at 32-31 with 18:23 on the clock. With UMW leading 34-33, Salisbury used an 11-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 10-point lead at 44-34.
The lead would swing back and forth between six and ten points for the next several minutes, until a three pointer from senior Claire Haeuptle and baskets from Caitlin Ciniero and Listenbee cut the deficit to four, at 54-50, with 8:50 remaining.
Another 7-0 spurt from Salisbury returned the Eagle deficit to 11 at 61-50 with 4:17 to play. The Eagles got a pair of free throws from Green, but went scoreless for three minutes down into the final minute of play as Salisbury held on for the 11-point win.
Listenbee shot 7-9 from the field en route to a team-high 17 points, while Ciniero added 14 on 7-14 shooting. The Eagles shot 21-57 from the field, making 1-6 three pointers, and went 11-23 from the free throw line. Salisbury shot 27-68 from the field (39.7%) making 3-12 three pointers, and went 8-14 from the charity stripe. Salisbury led in rebounds, 44-41.
The Eagles will return to action on Wednesday night when they host Christopher Newport University at 6:00 p.m.