CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College women's basketball team dropped a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game to Wilmington College, 83-72 Monday evening at the George R. Newman Center. With the loss, the Cougars fell to 7-13 overall and 6-9 in the conference, while the Wildcats improved to 10-10 on the season and tied Caldwell for seventh in the CACC with a 6-9 conference mark.

The first half was a close affair, with eight ties and 10 lead changes. Back-to-back lay-ups by Kelly Sammons gave the Wildcats a 40-35 lead with 2:46 left in the half. Caldwell answered with three straight baskets, including two from freshman forward Dana Leary (Bridgewater, NJ/Immaculata), pictured, to give the Cougars a 41-40 lead with a minute remaining. But Michelle Whalen sent Wilmington into the locker room with the lead after hitting a jumper with 39 seconds left. The Wildcats made 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the floor in the first half, as Andrea Jones scored 14 points. Leary tallied 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field to lead Caldwell.

Wilmington broke the game open with a 20-7 run in the first four minutes of the second half that made it 61-47. The lead would grow to 15 points before the Cougars made a 19-10 run to reduce the deficit to 71-66 with four minutes remaining. But the Wildcats locked up the win by out-scoring the Cougars 12-6 down the stretch.

Leary finished with a career-high 21 points to go with six assists and five rebounds in a losing effort. Freshman forward Melissa Freeman (Cresskill, NJ/Cresskill) tallied 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while freshman guard Phylicia Holmes (Roselle, NJ/Roselle) recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Jones led all scorers with 23 points. Katelin Klingert hit five three-pointers en route to 19 points, and Sammons finished with 15 points for the Wildcats.

Caldwell's next game is on Wednesday, Feb. 9, when the Cougars host Dominican College in a CACC contest. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. in the Newman Center.