[Women's Basketball] Women's Basketball Falcons upset bid falls just short at No. 19 Sterling

Sterling, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons gave the Sterling College Lady Warriors all they wanted in a Saturday night (Dec. 10) KCAC matchup, but came up just short 54-52 in Sterling, Kan.

Trailing by five with 7:33 remaining in the defensive struggle, the Falcons clamped down and held the Warriors scoreless for over a seven-minute span.

That defensive stretch allowed the Falcons to take their first lead since it was 8-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Buckets in the paint by Irie Razor (SR/Grand Prairie, Texas), Rayland Garner (FR/Kingfisher, Okla.) and Kassie Kinniburgh (JR/Valley Center, Kan.) handed the Falcons a 52-51 lead with 2:18 left in the game.

The Falcons then forced two more empty possessions by Sterling but couldn't capitalize, and the Lady Warriors finally broke their scoring drought with a three by Kali Briar with 25 seconds remaining.

On the Falcons' final possession, a two-point attempt by McKenzie Shippy (SR/Woodbine, Kan. ) was blocked by Taya Wilson to seal the Sterling win.

With the Falcons up by one, the Lady Warriors opened the second quarter on a 13-4 run to build an eight-point lead. The Falcons twice cut the lead to three, but Sterling scored the final five points of the half to again lead 29-21 at the break.

Sterling expanded the lead to a game-high nine points on two occasions during the third quarter, only to have the Falcons claw back within two at the two-minute mark before trailing 44-41 heading to the fourth period.

Garner led the Falcons (8-4, 4-3 KCAC) with 16 points and Taylor Jackson (SO/Houston, Texas) recorded a game-high 10 rebounds. Shippy had a team-high three assists for Friends.

Taya Wilson led all scorers with 18 points for the Lady Warriors (9-3, 6-1 KCAC), while Karsen Schultz had 12 points along with a team-best nine boards.

Both defenses made offense hard to come by, with the Falcons shooting just 32.3 percent (21-of-65) and the Lady Warriors mustering only a 39.7 percent (23-of-58) clip for the game.

The Falcons will next host Tabor College Wednesday night (Dec. 13) to wrap up action before the Christmas break. Tip-off is set for 6 pm inside the Garvey Center.