ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – The Caldwell College women's basketball team dropped its fifth straight contest, a 72-60 defeat to Dominican College in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game Thursday night at the Hennessy Center. With the loss, the Cougars fell to 3-9 overall and 3-6 in the CACC, while the Chargers improved to 7-6 on the season, including a 5-3 conference record.

The Cougars used six straight points capped by a three-pointer by freshman guard Laura Ciesla (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) to take their largest lead, 21-16 with 7:10 remaining in the half. But Dominican scored 10 straight points and finished the half with a 19-8 run that put the Chargers up 35-29 at halftime. A pair of three-pointers by junior guard Shannon Coyle (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney), pictured, helped the Cougars open the second half with a 9-4 run that cut the deficit to 39-38 with 16:43 left. The Chargers answered with a 13-0 spurt, taking advantage of six Cougar turnovers to grab control of the game with a 52-38 advantage. The Cougars never got closer than eight points the rest of the way as Caldwell shot just 32.1 percent from the field in the second half compared to 53.8 percent for Dominican.

Coyle finished with a team-best 14 points and two steals, while sophomore forward Melissa Freeman (Cresskill, NJ/Cresskill) tallied 12 points and seven rebounds. Jackie Tracey paced the Chargers with 14 points, with Ashley Rossi and Jill Younghans scoring 11 points apiece.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday, Jan. 14, when they host the University of Sciences in another CACC battle. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. in the George R. Newman Center.