The Oglethorpe women's basketball team fell to 1-3 on the season Tuesday evening with a 65-52 defeat to Covenant at Dorough Field House.

The Stormy Petrels again had a tough first half, putting themselves behind and making it difficult to come back. They enjoyed their only lead of the game, 4-1, early in the first half, but the visiting Scots immediately ran off a 10-0 stretch over a five-minute period in the first half and led, 11-4, with 14:02 remaining in the half. The Petrels cut the lead back to a single point with an immediate 4-0 run of their own, but Covenant slowly pulled away as the first half continued. They spent much of the rest of the period on a 20-6 run and led the Petrels 33-18 with 1:08 remaining until halftime. The two teams went to the locker rooms with Covenant ahead, 35-20.

The Scots shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the first half to Oglethorpe's 28.6 percent. In addition, Covenant got to the free-throw line 14 times in the stanza, shooting 64.3 percent. The Petrels shot just one free throw in the first half.

The Petrels played better for most of the second half. The two teams traded baskets for the first five minutes or so, then the Petrels went on an 11-3 run over the next seven minutes to cut the Covenant lead back down to 10, 45-35. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Petrels would get. The Scots answered with a 14-3 run that essentially put the game away. They led 59-38 with 2:42 remaining, then extended their lead to 22 points, their largest of the game, with 52 seconds remaining. Despite the game being out of reach, the Petrels went on an impressive 9-0 run to close it out, making the final margin a more respectable 13 points. In the end, the Petrels outscored the Scots, 32-30, in the second half.

The Petrels didn't shoot much better in the second half, but they did play much better defense, holding Covenant to just 35.7 percent from the field in the period. They also got to the free-throw line eight times in the second half, but only shot 50 percent while there. In addition, they outscored the Scots 11-4 in second-chance points over the period.

Overall, Covenant outshot the Petrels 44.9 percent to 30.1 percent. Covenant also shot 62.1 percent from the free-throw line to Oglethorpe's 44.4 percent. The Petrels outscored the Scots 19-8 in second-chance points and 26-7 off the bench, but Covenant had a 10-0 edge in fast-break points.

Freshman guard Ciara Hughes led the way for Oglethorpe with nine points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Senior guard Kyana Jenkins added six points and three steals.

The 1-3 Petrels will next travel to Mount Berry, Ga., for the SAA/USA South Classic over Thanksgiving weekend. They'll take on Piedmont at 2 p.m. Saturday, then battle LaGrange at 2 p.m. Sunday. They'll then go right back to Berry next week to take on the Vikings in their SAA opener next Thursday.