FT LAUDERDALE, Florida – Emmanuel College Women's Basketball battled fiercely against #12 Bates College on Friday evening in the 2025 Cruzin Classic, but ultimately fell 49-42 in a tightly contested defensive struggle that featured four ties and 11 lead changes.

The Saints (6-4) led for nearly half the game and held their largest advantage of seven points midway through the third quarter at 30-23. However, a cold shooting performance in the final period proved costly, as Emmanuel converted just 1-of-15 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter.

Emmanuel jumped out to an early 15-13 lead after the first quarter, with solid defense and balanced scoring and took a 20-19 lead into halftime despite managing just 5 points in the period.

The third quarter saw Emmanuel's best offensive output of the game with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting (66.7%). The Saints led 37-36 as time wound down in the period. 

The final quarter became a defensive battle, but the Saints' offense went cold at the crucial moment. Emmanuel made just one field goal over the final 7:09 of the game and was outscored 13-5 in the quarter as Bates pulled away late with clutch free throw shooting (6-8 in the fourth).

Kaitlyn Bartash paced the Saints with 8 points, adding 4 rebounds and a game-high 3 blocks in 26 minutes. Shea Canavan provided a spark off the bench with 8 points on 2-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

Geanna Bryant contributed 5 points, 5 rebounds, and a team-high 3 steals, while also dishing out 2 assists. Tyra Blye was active on the defensive end with a team-leading 4 steals to go along with 5 points and 2 rebounds.

Megan Reilly pulled down a game-high 7 rebounds and added 4 points and 2 assists, while Lia Krumian finished with 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Emmanuel shot 29.8% from the field (14-47) and struggled from three-point range at 18.2% (2-11). The team committed 12 turnovers while forcing 16 Bates giveaways.

For Bates, Mya Hicks led all scorers with 11 points and was a disruptive force on defense with 6 steals. The Bobcats shot just 25.4% from the field but dominated at the charity stripe, converting 13-of-16 free throws (81.3%).

The Saints will take a break over the holidays before returning to Yosinoff Court to host Colby-Sawyer College and kick off Great Northeast Athletic Conference action on January 10th at 3:00 p.m.