CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College women's basketball team overcame a sluggish first half to beat Felician College, 63-57 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game Thursday night in the George R. Newman Center. With the win, the Cougars evened their conference record at 2-2 while moving to 6-5 overall. The Golden Falcons, who had won their past seven games, drop to 7-3 overall, 2-1 CACC.

Caldwell led by as many as nine points early in the first half, but Felician grabbed control of the game with a 21-2 run that put the visitors ahead 29-18 with 7:33 left in the half. The lead grew to 12 before the Cougars battled back with a 15-4 spree of their own to close out the half trailing 36-35 at the break. Junior guard Kirsty Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Acad.) tallied the first eight points of the run and finished the half with 10 points. Felician's Taisha Hylor also had 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the half.

A basket by sophomore forward Kaitlyn Lambert (Cumberland, RI/Cumberland) in the first minute of the second half put Caldwell on top and sparked a 10-2 run that gave the Cougars a 45-38 advantage with 14 minutes to play. The Golden Falcons pulled to within four points twice, including 57-53 with 2:13 remaining. But Felician came up empty on their next three possessions, and freshman guard Torey Jones (N. Providence, RI/LaSalle Acad.) and junior guard Abena George (Elmont, NY/Elmont Memorial) hit their free throws to put the game out of reach.

Caldwell held a significant advantage at the free throw line, making 19-of-23 from the charity stripe compared to 10-of-12 for Felician. The Cougars also limited the Golden Falcons to 24.0 percent shooting from the floor in the second half after the visitors shot 50.0 percent in the first half.

Leedham, pictured, led the Cougars to their third straight win with 16 points. Jones and freshman center Gillian Felix (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) each scored 12 points, with Jones adding six rebounds, four assists and three steals. George turned in another solid performance with nine points, four boards, three assists and four steals. She leads the CACC in steals with 3.1 per game. Felician's Quay Baskerville led all players with 20 points, while Hylor had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Caldwell plays a CACC road contest at Georgian Court University on Saturday, Jan. 9. The game is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. in Lakewood, N.J.