BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg women's basketball team dropped its final non-conference regular season contest to Jefferson, 80-59, Saturday afternoon.
 
The Huskies made the first basket of the game, a three in the far corner by sophomore Allison Hileman (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) just 17 seconds into action, to take a 3-0 lead. That advantage was the only one of the game for Bloomsburg as Jefferson answered with eight-straight points to take an 8-3 lead with 7:52 to play in the first. The Rams pushed their lead to five, 14-9, with 4:52 to play before the Huskies used a four-point run, capped by a jumper from sophomore Hailey Hudak (Schwenksville, PA/Spring Ford), to cut the lead down to one, 14-13, at the 2:52 mark. The Rams closed the quarter with a 5-2 run, leading 19-15 at the first break.
 
Jefferson outscored the Huskies 9-3 in the first three minutes of the second quarter to extend its lead to 10, 28-18, and take control of the game. The Huskies scored four unanswered points to cut the lead back to six, but Jefferson answered with four straight of its own to push the lead back to 10, 32-22. Sophomore Lauren Kirsch (Palmyra, PA/Lower Dauphin) hit a three with 3:05 to play and kicked off an 8-6 run for Bloomsburg as they got the deficit back to single digits, 38-30, at the half.
 
Hileman kicked off the second-half scoring with a layup at the 8:39 mark to cut the lead down to six, 38-32, but an 8-0 run from the Rams pushed their lead to 14, 46-32, with 5:45 to play. The Rams outscored the Huskies 23-12 in the third quarter to take a 61-49 lead with 10 minutes to play.
 
The Rams led by as many as 23, 73-50, with 4:03 to play before freshman Maddie LaFrance (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) caught fire behind the three-point line and hit back-to-back triples to cut the lead to 17, 73-56, with 1:42 to play. The Rams pushed their lead back to 22, 78-56, with 34 seconds to play before France hit her third three of the game to cut the advantage back to 19,78059. Emily Keehfuss closed out the game with a layup under the basket for the 80-59 Jefferson win.
 
LaFrance led the Huskies with 12 points as she went 4-for-8 from the field; all four made baskets were from behind the three-point line. Hileman added 11 points and two assists, while Hudak had eight points and led the team with seven rebounds.
 
The Huskies shot 37.1% from the field (23-for-62) and were 10-for-25 (40.0%) from long range. Bloomsburg went to the free throw line just five times and was 3-for-5 for the game.
 
The Rams were 28-for-63 from the field (44.4%) and were just 1-for-8 (12.5%) from the three-point range. The Rams were 23-for-25 from the free throw line and converted the Huskies' 17 turnovers into 20 points. Jefferson won the rebounding battle 45-32.
 
Bloomsburg is off until Sunday, December 18, when the Huskies travel to California (Pa.) for a PSAC East/West crossover contest. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m.