DECATUR, Ill. – The Edgewood College women's basketball team returned to action after a week break for Christmas, but could not bounce back from a slow start. The Eagles found themselves in an early 10-0 hole and could not quite complete their comeback, falling 69-68 to Millikin University on Saturday afternoon. 

After trailing by eight with 3:05 to play, Edgewood College's hopes were looking grim, but the Eagles would not give in. Mariah Hill sunk a free throw and Rachel Pope converted a three-point play to cut the Big Blue's lead to four but a jumper by Milllikin's Brittany Czaplicki with 1:47 to play put the home team up six. Brooke Negus responded with a triple for three of her career-high 12 points, bringing the Eagles (3-8) within three. Two more free throws and a jumper by Pope gave Edgewood College their first lead of the game with 20 seconds left, but Millikin's Alyssa Saklak converted a jumper with six seconds left and the Eagles' chances for a victory were spoiled.

Edgewood College struggled early offensively, missing their first four shots while Millikin built a 10-0 advantage from the tip. Hill finally put the Eagles on the board with a pair of free throws at 16:37 and from that point on Edgewood College was playing catchup. The Eagles pulled within a point after Pope converted an and-one to make the score 25-24, but a late jumper and three-pointer put the Big Blue up by six at the half.

Millikin (6-4) built their lead back up to double digits early on after the break, but a three-pointer by Allie Novitske and a pair of free throws by Dareon Henderson cut the Eagles deficit to five, which stayed nearly the same until the three minute mark when Edgewood College made their move to pull ahead.

Pope scored 15 of her game-high 19 points in the second half including a 9-for-9 effort at the free throw line. Negus and Hill joined Pope in double figures at 12 and 11, respectively while Henderson came off the bench to contribute eight points and eight rebounds. Edgewood College had just four assists to 12 turnovers and shot 21.4 percent (3-for-14) from beyond the arc.

The Eagles will gear up for another non-conference bout on January 2 against UW-Stevens Point, who is ranked 22nd in the nation. The 7:00 pm game will feature live stats and live video on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.