Aston, PA - Riding on the momentum of their recent Colonial States Athletic Conference win at Centenary College, Cedar Crest hit the road on Saturday for their final away game of the season at defending CSAC champion Neumann University. With a 9-3 conference record, the Knights began the day in the upper tier of the Conference and facing an almost certain CSAC Tournament berth.

But the Falcons were playing for pride, and though they had just proven that they can play with anyone, they found themselves without the services of senior Lizzy Sunderhaus (Hamilton, OH/Stephen T. Badin) on Saturday. Sunderhaus, who was in Colorado for a graduate school commitment, is the conference's leading scorer, so Cedar Crest knew they would have to raise their game to close the gap.

And for almost the entire first half, close the gap they did, establishing a lead right off the bat and giving the Knights all they could handle right up to a 17-17 tie with about 8:00 left in the first half. But Neumann could afford to play 12 players in the first half to Cedar Crest's seven, wearing them down in the process until fatigue caused a spurt of cold shooting and some untimely turnovers. All it took was a three-minute lapse for the Knights to put up a 13-0 run that they carried into the locker room at the half, 38-25.

Despite the margin, the Falcons had a few high points. Freshman Mattie Hallquist (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) had eight first-half points, several coming on great moves in the low post, and sophomore Amber Wehry (Klingerstown, PA/Tri-Valley Jr/Sr) led all rebounders with six boards. The stats were relatively even, and the difference in the game really boiled down to Neumann's five of fifteen shooting from beyond the arc in the first half

The second half was in many ways a mirror image of the first. Although the Knights pushed their lead out to 20 to open the half, Cedar Crest stuck with them initially, even cutting the margin back to 11 three different times in the first ten minutes. After that, however, the Falcons simply ran out of legs and allowed the deficit to creep up to the final score of 77-48.

Hallquist led the Falcons with a career-high 14 points and nine boards playing the center in Sunderhaus' absence, and Wehry finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Megan DeMutis (Norristown, PA/Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic) chipped in 11 points. Neumann's Cecily Scavicchio led all scorers with 19 points including four of eight from thee-point land.

Despite the loss, Cedar Crest saw some nice things from a young team playing one of the best teams in the conference. They can hang their hats on that and what it portends for the future.

With the loss, Cedar Crest falls to 6-16 on the season and 3-10 in the CSAC, while Neumann improves to 11-11 overall and 10-3 in the CSAC. Next up, on Wednesday, February 8th, the Falcons will host CSAC opponent Marywood University. Game time is 7:00 PM, and the game will be in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.