The Oglethorpe women's basketball team suffered a setback in Memphis, Tennessee, Friday night, falling to Rhodes 69-55 for the Lynx's first SAA victory of the season. The defeat dropped the Stormy Petrels to 12-7 on the season overall and 6-2 in SAA play. 

The Petrels had a tough shooting night on Friday, converting at a 22 percent rate from the field while allowing Rhodes to make 44 percent of their field goal attempts. Additionally, the Lynx sank 47 percent of their 3-point attempts to 16 percent for Oglethorpe. The shooting discrepancy came despite the fact that the Petrels forced 26 Rhodes turnovers on the night and outrebounded the home team, 48-43. Rhodes outscored the visitors 13-7 in second chance points and 22-12 in the paint.

Sophomore forward Lauren Ransom collected her seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds while adding 3 steals. Sophomore guard Jada Triplett collected 15 points on the evening, while sophomore guard Bailey Charles grabbed 6 rebounds, passed out 3 assists, and made 3 steals. 

The Petrels took their only lead of the game when they scored the opening basket, but Rhodes almost immediately put Oglethorpe at arm's length, going on a 10-0 run to build a 10-2 advantage with 5:23 to go in the opening period. The Petrels scored back-to-back baskets to get back to within four points, but Rhodes ended the opening period with a 13-7 lead.

The Petrels outscored the Lynx 8-4 early in the second quarter to cut their deficit to two points, 17-15, with 6:24 on the clock. However, a 9-0 run over the latter half of the period allowed Rhodes to pull out to a 29-18 advantage with 50 seconds remaining until halftime.

The teams traded baskets early in the third quarter, allowing Rhodes to maintain their advantage before going on a 7-2 mini-run to build a 45-31 lead with 3:05 left in the period. A quick 5-0 run by the Petrels got the margin back to single digits, 45-36, with 1:56 left, and they trailed 48-38 headed into the fourth quarter.

Things did not improve for the Petrels to start the fourth, though. The Lynx used an 8-1 run to push out to their largest lead of the game, 58-41, with 5:17 to go, really putting Oglethorpe behind the eight-ball. They got as close as 11 late in the contest, trailing 66-55 with 1:10 left, but were not left with enough time to mount a charge at the end.

"It's tough to win on any day when you shoot 22 percent," said Oglethorpe head coach Alex Richey. "Our rotations on defense were a step slow and we just never could get into a rhythm offensively. When you allow a team like Rhodes to play with confidence, they are dangerous, and we allowed that tonight. The game will humble you, and this was certainly a perfect example of that. We can't hang our heads long, because we have a matchup against a very good Hendrix group on Sunday."

The Petrels take on the Warriors Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern from Conway, Arkansas, in a rematch of the contest from five days ago, which the Petrels won 53-45 at Dorough Field House. After that, they'll go back on the road next weekend, when they travel to Danville, Kentucky, to go against Centre on Friday and continue to Sewanee, Tennessee, to take on Sewanee on Sunday.