Key Largo, FL - A three-week holiday layoff made for a rough start to the second half of the season for the Cedar Crest basketball team. The Falcons lost their game against Suffolk University, 67-34, in the opening round of the Key Largo Classic Tournament in Key Largo, FL on Saturday.

The rust was evident from the get-go, as Suffolk jumped out to an 8-0 lead before a three-pointer by freshman Denyell Spingola (East Haddam, CT/Nathan Hale-Ray) put Cedar Crest on the board after almost five minutes of play. The Falcons did a decent job defensively, but offensively the shots were just not falling.

On the plus side, Cedar Crest was fortunate to have Lizzy Sunderhaus (Hamilton, OH/Stephen T. Badin) back on the court. The senior was just cleared to play following an injury, but was hampered by two early fouls and then a third just before halftime. The game was rather physical on both ends of the court.

The Falcons got within four at the nine minute mark, but couldn't close the gap. The score at the break was 31-19.

The second half proved to be more of the same, as the deeper and fresher Suffolk wore the Falcons down. For the game, Suffolk out-rebounded Cedar Crest 62-33, and the Falcons shot just 21.9% to Suffolk's 40.3%.

Sophomore Amber Wehry (Klingerstown, PA/Tri-Valley Jr/Sr) led the Falcons in scoring with nine points, and Spingola had eight. Sunderhaus led all rebounders with nine boards, and finished with seven points. DeJanet Lantion (Silver Spring, MD/John F. Kennedy) had eight rebounds.

Suffolk's Meghan Black led all scorers with 13 points.

Cedar Crest begins the second half of their season 1-8 (0-5 in the Colonial States Athletic Conference), and Suffolk improves to 6-3. The Falcons will play Newbury College, 64-52 losers to the University of Dallas, in the consolation game at 3:00 PM Sunday, January 1st.