NEW YORK – The Yeshiva University women's basketball team dropped its home opener to Berkeley College (N.Y.), 66-55, at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Saturday evening.

After the Knights (1-0) went up by 22 in the early stages of the fourth quarter, the Maccabees (0-4) rallied with an 18-4 run to pull to within single digits, but it was not enough as Berkeley was able to stave off Yeshiva's comeback attempt and pull away for the win.

Leading the way for the Maccabees was junior guard Rebecca Malech, who tallied a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Classmate Jennie Mellman also had a double-double with 10 points and 14 boards. First-year guard Shai Rahamim tallied 15 points and five assists, while sophomore guard Yuval Nitzan had seven points and just as many assists.

For the Knights, senior guard Kiana Martinez led all players with 18 points and nine assists. Classmate Janicha Diaz recorded 15 points, 12 rebounds, seven steals, and four assists. Freshman guard Cierra Highland forced a game-high eight steals, while scoring 12 points and grabbing six boards.

Yeshiva struggled out of the gate, getting outscored 14-4 in the opening quarter. In the second stanza, Diaz converted a layup, while being fouled, and added the free throw to increase the visiting team's lead to 25-12 with 7:05 remaining in the half. Yeshiva trailed by as many as 14 during the game's first 20 minutes and went into the intermission trailing by a score of 35-22.

The Maccabees fought back in the third quarter, as a layup by Malech pulled YU to within nine, at 38-29. However, the Knights scored the next eight points to take a 17-point hold with 3:51 to go. Yeshiva concluded the scoring in the period, thanks to a layup by Mellman with 1:22 left that shrunk Berkeley's advantage to 47-33. That would be the score after 30 minutes of play.

The Knights began the final period of regulation with a 9-1 run to take its largest lead of the evening, at 56-34. Yeshiva answered by going on a late-game blitz. Nitzan would jumpstart YU's 18-4 run by taking a feed from Rahamim and converting a layup. Later in the period, with Berkeley up by a score of 58-40, Mellman connected on a jump shot that began a 12-2 run for the Maccabees. A couple of possessions later, Rahamim kicked it out to Nitzan, who buried a 3-point field goal to shrink the Knights' lead to 58-45, with 4:45 remaining in regulation time.

Just less than three minutes later, Rahamim received the pass from Malech and connected on a shot from downtown to pull the Blue and White to within single digits, at 60-52. Berkeley was able to cool off YU's rally thanks to a successful jump shot by first-year forward Tonielle McFadden to put her team back up by double digits with 1:11 left to play. Rahamim gave Yeshiva one last hope as she drained another shot from beyond the arc to shrink the deficit to 62-55 with 47 ticks left on the clock.

It would not be enough, as Berkeley scored the final four points of the contest to earn its season-opening win.

McFadden finished the game with 16 points, five rebounds, just as many steals, and four assists.

For the Macs, sophomore forward Daniella Rothman tallied four points and six rebounds, while senior forward Lindsay Brandwein grabbed 10 boards and dished out three assists. First-year forward Gabrielle Kupferman had three points and three rebounds.

Yeshiva will return to the Max Stern Athletic Center, on Monday evening, for a battle against Drew University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. It will be Senior Night as Yeshiva University will honor its three women's basketball graduating seniors Miriam Kazlow, Brandwein, and Chana Boltax with a ceremony prior to the start of the game