FAIRFIELD, CONN. (November 30, 3014)—Alissa Tarsi (Clinton, N.J.) led the Sacred Heart women's basketball team with a career-high 16 points on Saturday as the Pioneers suffered their first loss to Lehigh 85-77. Tarsi was one of five Pioneers who reached double-digit points as SHU falls to 3-1 on the season.

The teams exchanged baskets to open the game with SHU getting a brief 4-2 lead over the Mountain Hawks before Katie O'Reilly's triple sent Lehigh on an 8-2 run. The Mountain Hawks maintained control of the score board throughout the early part of the first half.

With 10 minutes left before the break, Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, N.Y.), who tallied 13 points in the game, laid one in sparking a eight-point SHU run. The red shirt junior capped the spree off with a jumper to tie the game at 22, but Lehigh's Kerry Kinek landed a shot to stop the Pioneer's streak and tip the score back in the Mountain Hawk's favor.

After Tarsi, who was a perfect 5-5 from the floor in the first half, drove the lane to tie the score at 29, Katie Shepard (Lone Tree, Colo.) gave the Pioneers' back the lead with a layup with just three minutes left in the half. The score tied again at 31 and 33 before the buzzer, but Sacred Heart always maintained the lead to head into halftime ahead 41-33.

While SHU held onto the lead for the first 13 minutes of the period, the Mountain Hawks regained control of the game with just under seven minutes to play as O'Reilly's nailed a three-pointer to put Lehigh ahead 64-62. The Pioneers came back to tie the game at 68 with a Kimmel trey, but Sacred Heart was never able to get the advantage over the Mountain Hawks.

Katherine Haines (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) tallied a career best 10 points, while sophomore Adaysha Williams (LaCrosse, Wis.) totaled 12.

Sacred Heart plays next weekend in the Brown Classic. On Saturday, they'll face the host Bears at 2:00 p.m. before playing either Drexel or St. Bonaventure on Sunday.