NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University women's basketball team suffered a hard-fought Skyline loss to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, 71-58, at the ARC Arena on Thursday evening. The Maccabees drop to 5-6 this season and 3-5 in the Skyline, while the Mariners remain undefeated at 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Skyline.

Senior forward Michal Alge grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds and scored seven points. She is just four points away from 1,000 in her collegiate career. The Boston native also forced five steals, dished out three assists, and blocked a pair of shots.  

Senior guard Nicole Bick scored a game-high 26 points, brought down six boards, and distributed five assists. Junior forward Tehilla Teigman had 11 points with four rebounds.

The Maccabees got off to a strong start as Alge and Bick combined for back-to-back layups to give YU a 9-7 lead with 4:22 remaining in the period. The game was tied, 11-11, with less than a minute to go. Bick forced a steal, dribbled down the court, and converted a layup off a fast break to give Yeshiva a 13-11 lead, and that would be the score after 10 minutes of play.

Yeshiva continued its momentum in the second quarter, as senior guard Penny Rabin drilled a shot from beyond the arc to give the Maccabees a 19-14 advantage with 6:43 left in the half. The Mariners scored the next five points to tie the game. The Macs countered, as a field goal by sophomore guard Adina Rosenberg gave YU a narrow two-point edge. USMMA turned the tide in its favor by scoring nine unanswered points to grab a 28-21 hold with 2:10 remaining. Teigman snapped Yeshiva's 4:01 scoreless streak with a layup to narrow the opposition's lead to five. The half ended with the Mariners up, 31-24.

Yeshiva could not generate a rally in the third stanza, as USMMA took a 46-38 lead into the fourth.

The Maccabees began the final period of regulation by scoring six unanswered points, capped off by a layup from Bick, to cut the deficit to two. After the visiting team went back up by four, Alge sliced their lead in half with a layup. However, Merchant Marine took complete control of the game from that point, scoring nine consecutive points to put Yeshiva behind, 57-46, with 5:05 left to play.

YU did chip away, as a 3-point field goal by Bick decreased the Blue and White's deficit to five, at 60-55, with less than two minutes remaining. That was as close as Yeshiva would get, as the Mariners hit key free throws down the stretch and went on to earn their eighth victory in as many games, 71-58.

For the evening, sophomore forward Lindsay Brandwein scored six points with three rebounds, while second-year forward Celia Cohen had two rebounds, a block, and a steal. Sophomore guard Chana Boltax launched a 3-point field goal, while Rabin clutched two caroms.

For the Mariners, junior guard Kaleigh D'Arcy had a team-high 24 points, while freshman center Lauren Hunter had a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

Yeshiva will travel to Long Island on Friday, for a Skyline matchup at the College at Old Westbury, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Alge aims to be the first player in program history to produce 1,000 points to go along with 1,000 rebounds in a career.