INSTITUTE, W.Va – Despite Tamia Ridley's sixth consecutive double-double and Alana Ellis' game-high 16 points, a short-handed Notre Dame (7-6, 6-2 MEC) squad fell narrowly to West Virginia State (8-3, 4-2 MEC), 64-62.
 
In the first quarter, the two sides battled back and forth at an up-tempo pace for the first five minutes of the game, giving the Yellow Jackets an 8-7 advantage. WVSU would use a 10-4 run to close out the quarter up 18-11.
 
In the second quarter, WVSU scored the first bucket of the period, but the Falcons would respond with a 13-0 run to give NDC a 24-20 lead at the 4:52 mark. West Virginia State would answer with a 9-0 run of their own to grab a 29-24 lead at the break, despite NDC claiming the period 13-11.
 
In the third quarter, the two sides ramped up their scoring by netting 18 field goals together, six more than any other quarter. Notre Dame would win the period 22-19, but West Virginia State would still maintain a 48-46 advantage with ten minutes to play.
 
In the fourth quarter, WVSU jumped out to a 59-51 lead with 6:01 on the clock, but NDC willed their way back into the game as an Alana Ellis free throw with 1:37 remaining provided Notre Dame with their first lead since midway through the second quarter. However, a Yellow Jacket layup via Destiny Fields with 53 seconds remaining would be the deciding factor in a contest that the Falcons fought until the very end. Head coach Imani Gordon's team showed a valiant effort on the road with only six Falcons registering more than three minutes played.
 
Leading the way for Notre Dame was Ellis with a game-high 16 points, followed by Jen Oduho with 14, Tamia Ridley with 12, Marina Adachi with 11 and Lilee Carlson with nine. NDC shot well during the contest at 49.1% (26-53) and 43.8% (7-16) from downtown.
 
Ridley added a game-high 13 rebounds to register her sixth consecutive double-double, and seventh in her last eight games. Oduho tallied six boards and a career-high six assists, as Carlson generated a career-high five steals, four rebounds and three assists.
 
West Virginia State caused Notre Dame to turn the ball over 32 times compared to their 18, which led to 23 points off turnovers compared to NDC's ten. The Falcons did win the rebounding battle 37-32 and also shot significantly more efficient from the field than the Yellow Jackets' 39.4% (26-66) and 18.2% (6-33) from three.
 
Notre Dame College will be back in action when they return to Murphy Gymnasium on Saturday Jan. 15 at 2 p.m. to host the University of Charleston.