St. Thomas Hands 'Roos First Loss

HOUSTON, Texas - The Austin College women's basketball team got off to a hot start but a big second quarter for St. Thomas shifted the momentum to the Celts, and the 'Roos fell 81-73 for their first loss of the season. Austin College is now 4-1 overall on the year.

Reagan Chiaverini notched a career-high 22 points and added 12 rebounds and Kacie West added 21 points, but it was not enough as the 'Roos turned the ball over a season-high 22 times and shot just 20.8% from three point range, the team's worst shooting performance of the year. Austin College raced out to a 24-12 lead after the first quarter, shooting 57.9% from the field in the frame, but went just 6-of-17 in the second quarter while St. Thomas poured in 28 second quarter points to take a 40-38 lead at halftime.

Austin College looked to be back in control to start the third quarter, going on an 8-0 run to take a 46-40 lead, but UST's Hayden Morris hit 3-of-5 from long distance and scored 11 points in the quarter to put the Celts back on top 59-54 heading into the fourth. The St. Thomas lead would grow to 67-57 early as Morris stayed hot, scoring the first eight points of the quarter for the Celts, and the 'Roos would be unable to get the margin under seven points the rest of the way.

Chiaverini hit 10-of-18 shots to get her 22 points, and also handed out three assists. West was 9-of-17 from the field and had six rebounds, while Ally Longaker grabbed a game-high 13 boards. Sarah Gwin scored 11 points for the 'Roos, who finished the game shooting 42.5% from the field and knocked down just 6-of-12 free throw attempts.

Austin College will look to bounce back against the Celts on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.