SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In the team's final nonconference outing prior to Conference Carolinas action, the Converse University women's basketball team (2-4, 0-0 Conference Carolinas) fell to the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (4-2, 0-0 South Atlantic Conference) by a final score of 75-51.

Graduate guard Jordan Brown led the team in scoring with 18 points. She also recorded five rebounds and three assists. Redshirt senior center Sydney Wilson posted the second highest points total on the team with 16. She was tied for the team lead in rebounds with senior guard Jennifer Damoah. Wilson and Damoah each recorded eight rebounds.

Both teams were off to a slow start and neither sank a basket until 7:42 remaining in the first quarter. That was a layup by Brown to give the Valkyries an early lead. After a pair of Lenoir-Rhyne free throws, Converse again took the lead on a jump shot from Wilson. Converse stretched their lead to three points, 10-7, with 4:43 remaining in the opening frame.

After going back and forth with the Bears slowly chipping at the lead, Brown again put the Valkyries up two with a jump shot with just under two to play in the opening 10 minutes. However a Lenoir-Rhyne three pointer and a pair of free throws gave the Bears the final five points of the opening quarter and a three-point lead heading into the second quarter.

The teams continued to go back and forth in the second quarter with the Valkyries drawing the game even twice within the first five minutes of the second frame. But shooting just 1-4 from the field and turning the ball over four times put Converse on the wrong end of a five-minute, 10-2 run that gave the Bears an eight-point, 35-27, to close out the first half.

The Bears' defense was lock-down in the third quarter, holding the Valkyries to just seven points while scoring 23 of their own, their most in a single quarter in the game. That pushed the Bears' lead to 24 points heading into the final ten minutes.

In those final ten minutes, the Valkyries and Bears scored the exact same number of points: 17. But already being down double-digits, going basket-for-basket wasn't enough and Converse fell 75-51.

The Valkyries are back on the court on Saturday, Dec. 2 as they host the Emmanuel University Lions at 2 p.m. at the Weisiger Center to kick off Conference Carolinas play.

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