NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University women's basketball team could not hang onto the lead, as the Maccabees dropped a non-conference game to the Owls of the University of Maine at Presque Isle by a score of 81-67, at the ARC Arena on Monday evening. Yeshiva had a four-point lead at the half, but UMPI outscored YU, 47-29, in the last two quarters to earn the win.

Leading the way for the Maccabees (2-10) were both junior forward Michal Alge and senior forward Simee Rosner. Alge scored a career-high 25 points, which led all players, and grabbed 12 rebounds. Rosner scored 19 points and brought down a team-high 15 boards.

Yeshiva trailed for the majority of the first quarter, but a layup by Rosner put the home team in front, 14-13, with 1:23 remaining in the opening stanza. 26 seconds later, Alge nailed a free throw to cap off the Macs' 6-0 run. YU had a narrow 19-17 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

Alge laid the ball up and in, over minute into the second stanza, to give Yeshiva its largest lead of the game, 25-19. With 4:22 left in the opening half, senior guard Tzipora Leiser drilled a three-point field goal to equal the Maccabees largest lead of the night, 33-27. In the closing seconds of the second quarter, senior forward Tess Blaustein found Rosner, who converted a layup to make the score 38-34 in favor of Yeshiva, and that would be the score at halftime.

After UMPI (2-7) scored the first five points of the second half to take a one-point lead, Yeshiva answered back, thanks to a layup by Rosner, to help the home team regain the lead, 40-39, 1:29 in. The Owls scored eight unanswered points, in a span of 1:57, to take a 47-40 advantage. Leiser nailed two straight three-point field goals to pull the Maccabees to within one, at 47-46, with 5:02 remaining in the stanza. Just over one minute later, a three-pointer by Alge once again pulled Yeshiva to within one, at 50-49.

The Owls scored three straight points to increase their lead. Once again the Maccabees would have an answer as a three-point shot by junior guard Andrea Weiss narrowed the visiting team's lead to 53-52, with 2:56 left in the third quarter. UMPI scored eight of the quarter's last 10 points to take a 61-54 advantage into the fourth.

After UMPI increased its lead, Alge nailed her second three-point basket of the night to pull Yeshiva to within seven, at 68-61, with 6:14 left in regulation. With 4:35 left, Alge laid the ball up and in to cut the Owls' led to four, 68-64. That's as close as Yeshiva would get as UMPI scored 13 of the game's last 16 points to earn the win.

For the evening, Leiser scored a career-high 14 points with three rebounds and three steals.. Blaustein produced four points, dished out just as many assists, grabbed seven rebounds, blocked four shots, and forced just as many steals. Freshman guard Laura Betesh added two points, with a team-high six assists, and grabbed three rebounds. Senior forward Gavriela Colton brought down five caroms and dished out one assist, while Weiss produced three points, and sophomore guard Penny Rabin forced one steal.

The Maccabees will take a break before going on the road to take on the City College of New York, on Wednesday December 28. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.