ALLENTOWN, Pa.--- The Cedar Crest College basketball team welcomed Colonial States Athletic Conference opponent Centenary College (N.J.) to Lees Gymnasium falling 72-35 on Wednesday night.

"We had a good start tonight, playing tough defense," commented Interim Head Coach Asha Jones. "We were able to force some turnover and we had a good presence from Shemeca Thompson (Bridgeport, CT/Warren Harding), unfortunately it wasn't enough to shut down one of the top teams in the conference tonight."

The first quarter was a give and take with the Cyclones scoring the first basket of the game as the Falcons responded with a three pointer by junior guard Taylor Osley (Allentown, PA/Louis E. Dieruff High School) to take the lead. Freshman guard/forward Rianna Kinard (Clinton, MD/Surrattsville High) took the lead back at 7:14. Osley followed up with another three-pointer to take the lead back, but with .44 seconds trailing by 10 her hot hand from behind the arc Osley cut the lead to seven to end the first quarter.

The Cyclones extended their lead in the second quarter but the Falcons rallied late in the quarter after sophomore forward Shemeca Thompson (Bridgeport, CT/Warren Harding) banked a jumper, followed by another basket by Kinard while freshman guard Tenille Stewart (Pennsauken, NJ/Pennsauken) added two made free-throws before heading to the locker room at halftime trailing, 35-23.

The visitors took possession for the next two quarters extending the lead that Cedar Crest couldn't bounce back from falling to a final score of 72-35.

Kinard had a career and team-high of 16 points, while grabbing three rebounds, one block and one steal. Osley tacked on 10 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal while Stewart added six points, two assists and one steal.Thompson and freshman forward Katherina Pierre (Middletown, NY /John S. Burke Catholic) led the rebounding category. Pierre pulling in a game high of eight rebounds, had one assist and one block as Thompson tied her game-high of three blocks, brought down seven rebounds, three points and three steals. Senior forward/guard Kayleigh Keggan (Blairstown, NJ/Belvidere) had two rebounds, one assist and one steal on the night.

The next game for the Falcons is on Saturday, January 30 at Rosemont College with tip-off slated for 1:00 p.m. in another CSAC show down.