ERIE, Pa. – A strong full-court defensive presence was on display Saturday night by the Notre Dame College women's basketball team (0-2). However, the Falcons came up short, 70-58 at Gannon University (1-0) on day two of the Conference Challenge.
 
Notre Dame opened up a quick 5-0 lead after a steal in the backcourt and transition layup by senior Marina Adachi. A low-scoring first quarter would give way to an 11-9 NDC lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
 
The pace would ramp up in the second quarter as GU picked up their first lead of the game, 14-11 with 8:35 left in the break. The Golden Knights would control the lead into the break, but not before freshman Cencere McDaniel beat the first half horn with a driving right-handed layup (30-27 GU).
 
The Gannon lead would swell to double digits in the third quarter, before maintaining a 49-40 lead heading into the final quarter.
 
The Falcons showed a valiant fourth quarter effort by forcing turnovers in the full-court, cutting the Gannon advantage to just four (55-51), with 5:59 remaining. Adachi flashed 10 points in the frame, but NDC's effort came up short, 70-58.
 
Offensively, NDC was led Adachi's 18 and redshirt sophomore Alana Ellis' 17 points. Adachi also paced the squad with five steals on the night.
 
Freshman Noel Weathers chipped in six points, a team-high eight rebounds and three steals.
 
As a team, NDC shot 38.2% (21-55) from the field, 30.8% from three (4-13) and 63.2% from the free throw line (63.2%).
 
The Notre Dame College women's basketball team will be back in action on Wednesday Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. for their home opener against Slippery Rock.