In a second straight single-possession game, the Saint Vincent women's basketball team fell to the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas in the D3Hoops.com Classic, by a score of 46-44.
 
In a game played at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, the Athenas raced out to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes. A steal by Bri Van Volkenburg led to a common foul and a technical foul on Claremont at the 6:45 mark of the first.  Jenna Lafko converted both of the technical free throws to give the Saint Vincent their first points of the game before Van Volkenburg hit one of two to trim the lead to 7-3.  After three minutes of no scoring, back-to-back layups from Lafko and Van Volkenburg evened the score at 7-7 with 3:08 left in the first. The Athenas then converted on four straight free throws to regain the lead at 11-7.

The Bearcats closed out the quarter with four straight points, a driving layup by Carlee Kilgus follow up by a spinning jumper in the paint by Madison Kollar, after a shot clock violation by Claremont.
 
Kollar opened the second stanza with a layup off of a Kilgus assist ten seconds into the period. Van Volkenburg extended the SVC lead to four with a steal and lay in at the 9:18 mark. Athenas free throws trimmed it to 15-13 in favor of the Bearcats. A Kollar jumper and pair of free throws from Paige Montrose capped a 12-2 Saint Vincent run with six minutes left in the half. Claremont later capitalized off a pair of SVC turnovers to take a 21-20 lead with 3:08 left in the half. The teams traded blows in the final three minutes, and headed to the locker room with the Athenas leading 24-22.
 
The third quarter started off slowly for both sides, seeing no scoring for the first minute and a half before an Athenas jumper extended their lead to four, 26-22. A Kollar free throw and a Lafko floater after an offensive rebound brought SVC back within one at the 7:06 mark. A slew of Bearcat turnovers led to a 12-3 run by the Athenas ending with just over two minutes left in the period and Claremont leading 38-28. Erin Giancola trimmed the Saint Vincent deficit to eight with an offensive rebound and put back. After a turnover, Van Volkenburg kept the score 38-30 with a chase-down block with one minute remaining in the third.
 
Jenna Lafko opened the fourth with a steal and fast break leading to free throws 15 seconds into the final frame. Lafko converted one of two at the line and Kollar backed her defender down for an easy lay in at the 9:07 mark to bring the score to 38-33 before an Athenas timeout. Claremont scored out of the timeout, but the Bearcats answered with a jumper by Kollar.

Van Volkenburg keyed back-to-back defensive stands for SVC, first tying up a loose ball for a jump, then blocking a layup attempt with six minutes left in the game. The Athenas converted an and-one opportunity to push their lead to 43-35. Not to be outdone, Kollar drew contact on her next shot and sunk the free throw to answer for the Bearcats with 5:19 left. The teams exchanged free throws to take it to 44-39 in favor of Claremont before another Kollar layup and one Montrose free throw made it 44-42 with four minutes to play.

A minute later Lafko euro-stepped her way to an easy layup to tie the game at 44-44. The Athenas converted on a contested layup with 22 seconds left in the game to go up 46-44. That score would be the final, as a Kollar fadeaway in the paint rattled around the rim and out as time expired.
 
Kollar paced the Bearcat offense with 19 points, while Lafko added in 9 points of her own. Kollar gobbled up 9 rebounds, again followed by Lafko with 6. Van Volkenburg contributed on defense with 3 steals.
 
With the loss, Saint Vincent falls to 6-4 on the year. The Bearcats will return to action Monday, December 30 at 1:00 pm Eastern as they take on nationally ranked University of Scranton (#2) in the D3Hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada.