Fredericksburg, Va. – Dismal second-quarter play doomed the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team in their Capital Athletic Conference opener Wednesday night. St. Mary's (2-2, 0-1 CAC) suffered a 67-45 setback at the hands of the University of Mary Washington (5-0, 1-0 CAC) after being outscored 19-2 in the second period.

Sophomore guard Kerri Kline (Hagerstown, Md./Saint James School) tallied a game-high 18 points as Kline connected on four triples while junior center Nina Haller (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds and added six points.

The Seahawks stayed on pace with Mary Washington, who has received votes in both the WBCA and D3hoops.com Top 25 polls, in the first quarter as the Eagles just edged out a 12-10 lead. Kline gave her team a 3-0 lead at 8:03 and then Haller made the backend of two shots to stretch the advantage to four at 7:17. UMW claimed the lead and owned a 12-8 advantage with 11 ticks on the clock before senior guard Anna McClain (Durham, N.C./Carolina Friends) made a layup with two seconds left.

St. Mary's was held to only one field goal in the second period as Mary Washington scored 17 straight points before Kline notched two points with under a minute remaining in the first half.

Kline and sophomore forward Taylor Barton (Catonsville, Md./Catonsville) paced all scorers with seven points each at intermission while Haller and Barton each hauled in six first-half caroms.

The Seahawks found their shot in the second half but the hole was too deep to dig out off by then. In the fourth quarter, St. Mary's outscored the host Eagles, 15-14, as the Seahawks gained seven points off of eight UMW turnovers.

Mary Washington dominated the action in the paint, out-dueling the Seahawks, 28-6, and the Eagles also gained 25 points off of 23 SMCM miscues for the game.

Junior center Brianne Comden (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) led the Eagles in their fifth straight win with 10 points while Barton finished the night with nine points and eight boards. Senior forward Sarah Listenbee (Glenside, Pa./Abington) also had eight rebounds while chipping in eight points.

St. Mary's will look to notch its first conference win of the season this Saturday, December 5 when the Seahawks welcome Wesley College (1-5, 1-1 CAC) to the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena for the first half of a league doubleheader. The women will tip-off at 2:00 p.m. followed by the men at 4:00 p.m.

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