CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College women's basketball team suffered a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference loss to Wilmington University, 76-73 Saturday night in the George R. Newman Center. The loss ends the Cougars' three-game winning streak and leaves them at 13-11 overall and 9-8 in the conference. The Wildcats improve to 12-12, 9-7 CACC.

Caldwell took the lead from the start and built a 23-7 advantage over the first 7:29, with freshman guard Torey Jones (Providence, RI/LaSalle Acad.) scoring 12 points. Wilmington battled back, hitting eight threes in the first half to get as close as four, 40-36 with 1:25 left in the half. Jones hit another three-pointer, her fourth of the half, to put Caldwell up 45-38 with 38 seconds on the clock. Ashley Baker answered for Wilmington with two free throws just before halftime to make the score 45-40 Cougars at the break. Shantel Brown made five threes in the first period to help the Wildcats shoot 53.3 percent from long range, while Jones poured in 20 first-half points.

Caldwell's lead grew to 56-50 with just over 15 minutes to play when the Wildcats scored seven straight points to take their first lead of the game, 57-56 with 10:53 remaining. The Cougars regained the upper hand and led by four, 70-66 after Jones' sixth trey of the game at the 3:33 mark. But Caldwell went cold, missing three consecutive shots as Wilmington hit four free throws en route to a 72-70 advantage with 1:22 left. Junior guard Kirsty Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Acad.) knotted the score at 72-72 with a lay-up at the 1:11 mark. After Monique Stephens made 1-of-2 from the line for a 73-72 Wildcat lead, the Cougars came up empty on their next possession, missing a three and giving up a steal to Baker with six seconds left. Baker hit two more free throws to extend the lead to 75-72, then Leedham was fouled and made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with three seconds left. But it was too late for Caldwell, who lost for the first time since Feb. 4.

Wilmington took advantage of their 33 trips to the free throw line, making 28 (84.8 percent) compared to 8-of-10 for Caldwell. Their 20 made free throws in the second half made up for an 8-of-21 field goal shooting performance for the Wildcats, who held the Cougars to 10-of-26 from the field (38.5 percent) after halftime. Jones tallied a career-high 28 points, making 11-of-20 from the floor and 6-of-13 from beyond the arc. Leedham finished with 26 points, while freshman center Gillian Felix (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) tallied nine points, eight boards and two blocks. Junior guard Abena George (Elmont, NY/Elmont Memorial) contributed eight assists, six rebounds and a steal. The Wildcats were led by Brown's 26 points, with Baker scoring 20 points and swiping four steals.

Next up for Caldwell is a home game against Post University on Tuesday, Feb. 23. The Cougars will honor their seniors Kate Shutz (Edison, NJ/Edison) and Danielle Hubbard (East Orange, NJ/Bloomfield Tech) at the game, which is set to start at 6:00 p.m. in the Newman Center.