PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - Senior Danielle Thomas led the Wilmington University women's basketball team, with 21 points and four rebounds, but the Wildcats fell to University of the Sciences, 81-63, inside Morgan Arena on Wednesday night in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action.
Thomas hit three three-pointers and added four from the foul line to lead the Wildcats (0-7, 0-2 CACC) while junior Lauren Brown added ten points and a team high five rebounds in the loss. University of the Sciences (3-5, 2-1 CACC) won their second straight CACC matchup by also defeating Goldey-Beacom after opening the conference schedule with a loss at Philadelphia.
Freshman Tenicia Spence scored the game's first two points with a layup at the 1:16 mark of the first half before classmate Auryonah Nash made a three-pointer to put the Wildcats up 5-2 with 17:54 left in the opening stanza. Spence followed that basket up with a three-pointer of her own to put the visitors back on top at 8-7 with 16:33 to play.
Freshman Tiaja Harrold hit her lone three-pointer of the game to tie the match at 11-11 with 14:32 left in the first half and Brown re-tied the game at 14-14 with a layup 30 seconds later. But that would be the last tie of the game for the Wildcats, as the Devils went on a 26-14 run through the rest of the first half to take a 12 point lead into the halftime break.
The lead grew to as many as 22 points for the Devils in the second half before Thomas hit back-to-back layups with less than a minute to play to cut it to 16. The Devils hit two final free-throws to settle on the final score of 81-63.
Wilmington shot 21-for-63 from the floor, but couldn't hold the Devils down as they shot 46 percent from the floor for the game. USciences also out-rebounded the Wildcats, 46-33, including a 13-11 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Devils also held the advantage from the foul line, sinking 26 of 39 opportunities at the charity stripe while Wilmington only hit 15 of 19 for the game.
The Wildcats hit six three-points in the contest to the Devils three, but it wasn't enough in the team's seventh straight road contest.
Spence's streak of five straight games of scoring 20 or more points came to an end on Wednesday, as she finished shooting 4-for-17 from the floor, including 1-for-4 from beyond the arc to end with nine points.
Wilmington's eight game road trip to start the 2012-13 season comes to a close on Saturday, as the Wildcats stay inside the CACC with a contest at Post University. The cross divisional battle is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.