SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – A tremendous crowd on hand inside Murphy Gymnasium for the Notre Dame College women's basketball as they took on Ursuline College in the home opener. The Falcons fell to the Arrows on Wednesday evening, 84-72.
 
The contest began back-and-forth as the score was tied six times to reach 13-13 at the 4:38 mark. Next, the Falcons secured their first lead of the contest as Rachel Richardson buried a corner three, assisted by Nadia Jackson (16-13). The Arrows quickly regained the advantage at 18-16, before Jackson knocked down a three-pointer from Karli Anker, flipping the game back to NDC, 19-18 with 3:31 left in the frame. Anker hit a jumper with 11 seconds left in the quarter, as UC held a 24-21 advantage after the first ten minutes.
 
Ursuline utilized a 9-2 run to start the second quarter, swelling the Arrows lead to double-digits (33-23) with 4:32 to play before the half. Notre Dame chipped away at the UC lead over the remainder of the period, as Anker, Richardson and Kennadi Harris cut the deficit to five at the break (40-35).
 
In the second half, the Arrows opened their largest lead at 15 points with 5:43 left in the third quarter (51-36). However, Notre Dame once again battled back and slowly worked at the UC lead. Fueled by perfect 7-7 free throw shooting, NDC used a 14-4 run over a three-minute span to trail by just one possession, 59-56 with 1:11 in the third. Carlson closed out the quarter with a layup under five seconds remaining, as Ursuline took a 63-58 edge into the fourth.
 
Following a pair of UC free throws to regain a 70-62 advantage, NDC grabbed a pair of quick baskets from Carlson and McDaniel to trim the lead back to four (70-66) with 6:39 left in the contest. Notre Dame remained within six points as Richardson and Anker generated back-to-back baskets with two minutes to play. Despite the fight, Ursuline made clutch free throws to take the game 84-72.
 
On the evening, Carlson carried the Notre Dame College offense with a game-high 21 points. Richardson added 17 points on 3-6 shooting from deep, alongside Anker who chipped in 11.
 
Three Falcons recorded two assists, in Richardson, Jackson and Mallory Hullinger. Noel Weathers corralled a team-high six rebounds, joined by McDaniel with five.
 
Richardson stuffed the stat sheet with four rebounds and a game-high four steals.
 
As a team, Notre Dame shot 23-64 (35.9%) from the floor, 7-20 (35.0%) from three and 19-25 (76.0%) from the charity stripe. The Falcons grabbed 32 rebounds, 12 assists, 13 steals and five blocks.
 
The Notre Dame College women's basketball team will be back in action on Saturday Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. against Wheeling University as Mountain East Conference play begins.