MEADVILLE, Pa. - The Allegheny women's basketball squad suffered their first loss of the season on Tuesday night, as they fell in a tightly contested 75-71 matchup against the President's of Washington and Jefferson.  

The President's would get out to an early lead, but as Allegheny showed in their previous two wins, no lead is safe at David V. Wise Center. The Gators would battle back, and steal the momentum away from Washington and Jefferson with an 11-2 run late in the opening stanza. Allegheny would increase its lead by as much as 10 with 1:45 remaining in the opening 20, on a jumper in the paint by junior Daryl Ford.

The Gators would go into the half with an eight point lead, holding the President's to just 38.2 percent shooting from the floor, including just 16.7 percent from three.

However, the second half would be a much different story as Washington and Jefferson would come out of the break firing on all cylinders. The President's would go on a 12-5 run to open the half, cutting the Gator lead to just one.

Freshman Kendall Hoffman looked to spark the Allegheny offense with a pair of trey's; however, Washington and Jefferson would answer with a three point show of their own, hitting 4-6 in the second half.

Allegheny looked to withstand the President's offensive attack, but just when it looked as if the Gators would pull away, Washington and Jefferson went on a tear, outscoring Allegheny 17-2 in an 8:10 stretch that saw the Gators go from up six, to down nine.

While both teams made an identical number of three point shots (5), the discrepancy in three point field goal percentage is what did Allegheny in. Washington and Jefferson would end the game shooting an efficient 41.7 percent from beyond the arc, while Allegheny shot just 23.8 percent, including going 4-14 in the second half.

The biggest bright spot for Allegheny had to be Ford, who got earned her first double-double of the year by scoring a game-high 21 points and coming down with 13 boards. Junior Ann Ryan continued her strong play off the bench, as she too earned her first double-double of the year. Ryan ended the game with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Gators will have just two days off as they will travel to Alliance, Ohio on Friday to take on number 13 Mount Union in the opening round of the Mount Union Turkey shoot. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 pm.