Providence, R.I.-The Rhode Island College women's basketball team staged a late rally in their final regular season home game, but fell short, dropping a tightly contested game with UMass Dartmouth, 49-45, at The Murray Center on Tuesday night.

Rhode Island College (6-18, 4-9 LEC) senior forward Colleen McLaughlin (Weymouth, MA) scored four points and grabbed one rebound on Senior Night.

The Anchorwomen jumped out to a five point lead, 10-5, following a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Jessica Patalano (Exeter, RI) with 13:04 left in the half. UMass Dartmouth (18-6, 10-3 LEC), currently in first place in the Little East Conference, responded by outscoring the Anchorwomen 25-12 over the next 10:08 to take a commanding 30-22 lead following a three-pointer by sophomore guard Bri Hochwarter (Attleboro, MA) with 2:56 remaining.

A trey from RIC's junior guard Katelyn McElroy (West Greenwich, RI) cut the deficit down to five, but that is as close as they would get as the Corsairs upped their lead to eight, 33-25, entering the half.

The second half saw the Corsairs' lead balloon to as large as 11, with the visitors holding a 10-point, 46-36 lead with 8:50 left in the contest. The Anchorwomen rallied, cutting the lead down to three on a layup by freshman guard Jess Korzec (West Brookfield, MA) with 5:52 to play

The offense dried up for both clubs as the two teams combined for just five points over the final 5:52 to give the game its final margin, 49-45.

Junior forward Devin Hill (Danielson, CT) notched a double-double for the Anchorwomen, scoring 12 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Korzec finished with nine points, four boards and three steals in the defeat. RIC shot 28.4 percent (19-for-67) from the field, 5.6 percent (1-for-18) from three-point land and shot 75.0 percent (6-for-8) from the free throw line as a team.

Hochwarter paced the Corsairs with 15 points on 4-for-6 shooting from downtown. Sophomore forward Megan Ronaghan (North Attleboro, MA) chipped in 11 points and seven boards in the victory. UMD shot 27.8 percent (15-for-54) from the field, 41.7 percent (5-for-12) from three-point land and 56.0 percent (14-for-25) from the charity stripe.

In upcoming action, Rhode Island College will continue Little East Conference action at Plymouth State on Saturday, Feb. 21 (1 p.m.).