The Chestnut Hill College Women's Basketball team again struggled in the fourth quarter as Jefferson University handed the Griffins a 55-46 loss in their Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener Wednesday night at Jefferson's Herb Magee Arena in Philadelphia.

The Griffins fall to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in league play.  The Rams improve to 6-1 and 1-0 in conference games.

Abbey Spratt led the Griffins with 11 points (5-10 FG) while Bri Rider came off the bench to score 10 (4-6 FG).  Bri Hewlett and Leah Miller led the rebounding corps with seven and six respectively.  Miller's six rebounds moves her above 500 boards for her career (504), becoming just the eighth player in program history to record 500 or more rebounds.   Emily Chmiel had three blocks while Siobhan Boylan added two.

Trailing but just four points heading into the fourth quarter, Spratt pulled the Griffins within two on a layup at the 8:01 mark.  Jefferson followed with ten straight points, capitalizing on three CHC turnovers which limited the Griffins to just one shot over a 2:45 span as the Rams took a 45-33 lead.  The Griffins shooting woes continued, making just two of their next five shots, but managing to close within seven 49-42 with 2:26 left thanks free throws from Kaitlyn Carter and Chmiel and a three-point basket from Rider.  Chmiel's layup with 39 seconds closed the gap to five 51-46 but that would be as close as the Griffins would get.

Chestnut Hill made just five of 15 shots from the field in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over seven times (leading to 12 of Jefferson's 20 points)

Earlier in the third quarter the Griffins briefly held a one point lead 30-29 on Morgan Sterner's driving layup before the Rams retook the lead 15 seconds later and expanded it to four heading into the last ten minutes of action.

Jefferson led by as many as seven in the first two quarters with the latest at 22-15 with 3:55 left in the second period.  The Griffins followed with their biggest run of the game, scoring the final seven points of the period to tie the game at 22-22 at halftime.  The Griffins got baskets from Rider and Spratt with a three point field goal in-between while also forcing the Rams to commit two 30-second shot clock violations in the final 2:28 (Jefferson committed four in total over the course of the game).

Sam Yencha led the Rams with 13 points and nine rebounds.  Emily Keehfuss added 12 points while Haley Meinel chipped in 11.  Morgan Robinson had eight points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals.

The Griffins finished the game shooting 30.9% (17-55) from the field while the rams shot 36.2% (21-58).  Free throws were essentially a wash with (9-8 in favor of Jefferson) with each team missing four on the night.  The Rams did make two more three point baskets than the Griffins (5-3).  Chestnut Hill held a 43-36 advantage on the glass but committed 22 turnovers, their fourth straight game with 20 or more turnovers (CHC is 1-3 in that span).  Chestnut Hill also had just six assists the entire game.

The Chestnut Hill College Women's Basketball returns to action on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 with a game at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York.