The Bison women’s basketball team suffered a 63-51 loss to Holy Cross on Feb. 4. The game was hard fought on Holy Cross’s home court and was a close battle leading up to the final minutes.

The game saw both teams tied neck-and-neck multiple times throughout the contest. The scoreboard read 32-32 at half-time, and was again tied at 46-46 after three quarters. However, the decisive action occurred in the last 10 minutes, where Holy Cross outscored the Bison 17 to five.

Holy Cross earned a large lead in the second quarter, where they got as far as 11 points ahead of the Bison. However, Sune Swart ’17 was able to kick it into gear by scoring her first seven points of the game consecutively, bringing the match back to a nail-biter. The first lead earned by the Orange and Blue came shortly thereafter thanks to a 3-pointer notched by Kaitlyn Slagus ’19, turning the tables to a 32-30 lead near the end of the first half. However, Holy Cross was able to bring it back to a tie in the last minute with a quick jumper, and both teams went on to score a respectable 14 points in the third quarter.

The highest scorer was Swart with 13 points and seven rebounds. Next best was Slagus with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Claire DeBoer ’17 with nine points and seven rebounds. Slagus and Kyi English ’19 both contributed an impressive two 3-pointers apiece.

The Bison struggled at the free-throw line, making a lower percentage than usual. DeBoer was able to make the most out of her opportunities from the foul line by sinking five of her six attempts. Overall, the Orange and Blue made 11 out of their 18 free-throw attempts.

This game resulted in the Bison’s second consecutive loss after a hot streak of winning 12 games straight. This brings the Orange and Blue to what is still a great overall standing at 17-5, and a solid 9-2 in the Patriot League.

“Unfortunately we didn’t play our best coming off Wednesday’s loss, which was disappointing. I really like this group and feel we are getting better, but we need to realize the other teams in this league are good too and not playing our best will lead to more losses,” head coach Aaron Roussell said. “It was a tough week for us, but it was a good eye-opener for us in a lot of ways as well. If we do this right, we will be better because of these two losses.”

The last time the Bison suffered two consecutive losses this season, they were able to come back by winning 14 of the next 15 games.

After hosting Lehigh this week, the Bison will travel to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on Colgate on Feb. 11.