Salisbury, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team went step-for-step with No. 20 Salisbury University in the first half Wednesday night but Salisbury came out on top in the end, posting a 71-50 win to remain undefeated in Capital Athletic Conference action.

The loss drops St. Mary's (4-12, 4-7 CAC) into a two-way tie for sixth with York College of Pennsylvania (8-10, 4-7 CAC) in the CAC standings while Wesley College (9-8, 5-6 CAC) gains sole possession of fifth following its 10-point win at Marymount (Va.) University tonight.

The Seahawks will look to snap their three-game skid this Saturday, January 31st when they travel to Middletown, Pa. to face Penn State Harrisburg (4-14, 3-8 CAC) at 1:00 p.m. St. Mary's first win of the season came at that expense of Harrisburg on January 3rd by a score of 69-52 as four Seahawks scored in double digits.

Sophomore center Nina Haller (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) paced St. Mary's tonight with team-bests of 13 points and six rebounds while guards Haley Riebling (Ellicott City, Md./Seton Keough) and Kerri Kline (Hagerstown, Md./Saint James School) each contributed 11 points.

The Seahawks' offense was kept on point with career-best seven assists from senior captain Matti Vagnoni (Chevy Chase, Md./Stone Ridge).

St. Mary's came out firing and built an 11-2 at 15:58 as the Sea Gulls (17-1, 11-0 CAC) missed six of their first seven shots. The Seahawks owned the lead for 13:09 but Salisbury used a 17-6 run to claim its first lead of the game, a lead SU never relinquished. The Sea Gulls stretched their lead to 27-20 at 2:53; however, St. Mary's outscored Salisbury 5-2 the rest of the way for a 29-25 SU lead at halftime.

Kline paced the Seahawks with seven points at intermission while junior forward Kathy Albornoz (Lutherville, Md./Dulaney) led all scorers with eight points off the bench.

St. Mary's maintained its deficit in single digits for the first seven minutes of the second stanza but the Sea Gulls bolstered their advantage from a nine-point lead to 55-35 at 11:26 with an 11-0 run over a 1:27-minute span. Senior guard Sarah Seipp (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) netted all but two points in the SU run while forcing a pair of turnovers.

Senior guard Anna Hackett (Germantown, Md./Clarksburg) guided the Sea Gulls to their eighth consecutive win with game-best 17 points while Seipp finished with 16 points and game-best eight rebounds. Albornoz added four more points in the second half to chip in 12.

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