Box Score

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The Cardinal women's basketball team surrendered a 15-point lead in the second half before falling 71-66 at Muskingum on Tuesday night.

Otterbein (4-5 overall) drops to 1-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play and will take an eight-day break from games before competing in the Smokey Ballenger Classic on Dec. 29-30. The Cardinals are scheduled to play Earlham and Waynesburg in the event with a full list of matchups available in the preview here.

The Cards built a lead from the opening tip after scoring on the game's first possession, jumping out to a 12-4 advantage which forced the Muskies to call a timeout. Muskingum regained its composure though and outscored Otterbein 7-2 over the remaining 2:20 of the frame to narrow its deficit to 14-9.

Otterbein's offense took off from that point as it manufactured a 13-0 scoring run to take a commanding 27-9 lead with just over five minutes left before halftime. Sophomore Ali Cartnal sank two free throws at the 4:22 mark to extend Otterbein's lead to 19, proving to be game's largest-margin, before settling on a 37-24 lead at the break.

Junior Kiersten Taylor led the Cards through two quarters with 14 points on an efficient 6-of-8 shooting, contributing to an Otterbein squad that was shooting 40.5 percent. Muskingum conversely was held to a 32.2 percent mark from the floor.

The Muskies cut the Cards' lead to eight points two minutes into the third period before Otterbein quickly rebuilt its advantage at 46-32 just four minutes later. Muskingum did not back down though, narrowing its deficit to 10 points heading into the final quarter.

Muskingum took its first lead of the night with 7:21 remaining and led by as many as six points in the frame. A layup by junior Abby Miduri with 25 seconds left pulled Otterbein within three points, but to no avail as the Muskies connected on three of its final four foul shots to improve to 3-1 in OAC play.

Taylor led all scorers with a career-high 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while also grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. Freshman Delaney Cutteridge checked in with a career-high 12 points on a 5-of-7 mark from the field. Senior Taylor Pifher added 11 points and six rebounds for the Cards which finished shooting 36.6 percent.