CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College women's basketball team lost a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game to Dominican College, 71-61 Tuesday night at the George R. Newman Center. The defeat is the Cougars' third straight and drops their record to 5-14 on the season, including a 5-11 mark in the CACC. Dominican is now 13-7 overall and 11-4 in the conference.

Dominican led throughout, building a 27-14 advantage with 3:37 left in the first half. The Cougars closed the gap to 27-21 at the break with a 7-0 run to close out the half. Sophomore forward Melissa Freeman (Cresskill, NJ/Cresskill) tallied eight points and four blocks in the game's first 20 minutes to pace Caldwell, which shot just 23.3 percent from the field.

The Cougars stayed within six points for the first three minutes of the second half before a 10-2 Dominican run, including five from guard Jackie Tracey, put the Chargers up 40-26 with 15:05 on the clock. A pair of baskets from Freeman and a three-pointer by junior guard Shannon Coyle (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) brought Caldwell to within 48-39 with 10:48 remaining. But Dominican went on to score the next nine points to take their largest lead of the game, 57-39 with 7:43 left. The Cougars never came closer than 10 points the rest of the way, as the Chargers wrapped up their seventh win in eight games.

Coyle, pictured, made three three-pointers en route to a team-high 16 points to lead Caldwell. Freeman finished with her fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore guard Phylicia Holmes (Roselle, NJ/Roselle) grabbed a game-high 12 boards to go with eight points and four assists. Tracey led all scorers with 19 points, with center Ashley Rossi tallying 13 points and seven rebounds for Dominican.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday, Feb. 4, when they travel to Wilmington, Del., to face Goldey-Beacom College at 1:00 p.m.