ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Carleton College women's basketball team came up just short in its comeback bid against No. 22-ranked University of St. Thomas. After trailing the Tommies by as many as 19 points in the third quarter, the Knights pulled to within two points during the closing seconds before eventually falling on the road, 63-59.
 
"This group doesn't quit," said Carleton head coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen. "We executed pretty well offensively but had a defensive lapse in second quarter and spent the rest of the game recovering from it. Nobody gave up, and we were able to battle back at the end. We will learn from this as we move forward."
 
After Carleton (5-9, 2-7 MIAC) tied the game at 25-25, thanks to a Asha Bozicevich (Jr./Golden Valley, Minn./Hopkins) triple with 5:51 left in the second quarter, the Tommies (11-3, 7-2 MIAC) closed the half on a 14-1 run to take a 39-26 lead into intermission.
 
St. Thomas extended its scoring surge to 20-1 by tallying the first six points of the second half, and the hosts led 45-26 with 8:48 still to play in the third quarter.
 
Undeterred, Carleton orchestrated a balanced 15-6 scoring stretch to close the third period, with four different players contributing to the run. As a result, the Knights found themselves down 51-41 heading into the final stanza.
 
The fourth quarter began with a defensive struggle, and Carleton still trailed 56-43 with 5:08 remaining in the game.
 
A 10-0 run for the Knights, which included a pair of Anna Hughes (Jr./Glenville, Ill./New Trier) 3-pointers, reduced the Tommies' lead to 56-53 with 2:26 to play.  
 
The Knights were able to whittle the deficit down to two points twice within the final 18 seconds, but St. Thomas center Brynne Rolland made four late free throws to clinch the victory.
 
Carleton was paced by Katie Chavez (Sr./Westminster, Colo./Holy Family), who finished with 15 points and was a perfect 10-10 from the charity stripe. Hughes accounted for 10 points, Samantha Cooke (Sr./St. Louis, Mo./Incarnate Word Academy) added nine points, and Jill Yanai (So./Glendale, Calif./Glendale) contributed eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Roland racked up a career-best 30 points and hauled in nine rebounds in helping the Tommies win the battle underneath the basket, as the hosts out-rebounded Carleton 37-22, including 12 offensive boards. The Knights shot 40 percent on the night, compared to 42 percent for the home team.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS: Carleton hosts St. Catherine University for a 3 p.m. contest on Saturday, Jan. 18. Live video and stats will be available via athletics.carleton.edu.