West Chester, Pa. - Despite an impressive collegiate debut from Samantha Brusha, who led the team with 22 points, the Millersville University women's basketball team lost 71-61 to Notre Dame College (Ohio) in its season opener at a neutral site in West Chester, Pa. Brusha is the first Marauder to lead the team in points in her debut since Mashira Newman scored a team-high 13 points against the University of the District of Columbia on Nov. 20, 2009.

"She played with a lot of poise today," head coach Mary Fleig said. "You never would have guessed that she's a freshman if you didn't know. Her first eight points were in a lot of different areas. They came off offensive rebounds, knocking down threes and in transition. She runs the court very well and is very active on offense in a lot of different categories."

Brusha scored the first eight points for Millersville, including a 3-pointer in the first shot attempt of her collegiate career. Although the Marauders shot a better percentage (.400) in the first half, they trailed 35-30 at halftime. 

Millersville managed to tread water, never trailing by more than seven points in the third quarter, and came back to tie the game 49-49 in the final minute of the period after two-consecutive free throws from Erika Reed. The Falcons had held the lead since the end of the first quarter.

The Marauders struggled out of the gate in the fourth quarter, trailing by 10 with just under seven minutes left to play. Millersville then went on a 9-0 run, with Brusha contributing eight of those points, to make it a two-point game with 1:42 left on the clock. However, Notre Dame would finish the game on an 8-0 run to secure the victory.

"We battled back very well late in the fourth quarter," Fleig said. "But we made some key errors at critical times and it cost us the game."

Kendra Bamberger grabbed a match-high nine rebounds and was second on the team with 11 points. Making the first start of her collegiate career, Olivia Mottern tallied a career-high five steals and Courtney Dimoff also set a new career high with eight assists. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The Marauders struggled to maintain possession throughout the game, turning over the ball 28 times compared to the Falcons' 17 turnovers. Notre Dame scored 28 points off Millersville turnovers and also held a 22-9 advantage in offensive rebounds. 
• The Marauders had a better field goal percentage (.426), 3-point percentage (.300) and free throw percentage (.750). 
• Reed, Chandera Jones-Aryeh and Kennedy Middleton also made their collegiate debuts today along with Brusha. 

QUOTABLE
• "There are some positives to take from this game. We did a good job in transition and made some good offensive reads. Defensively we communicated well. On the bad side, the game was lost on the fact that we gave up 22 offensive rebounds and 28 turnovers."
• "Chandera Jones-Aryeh was our only up guard on our defensive unit and she learned the physicality of Division II basketball today. I also thought Erika Reed played a really nice game. She didn't panic and had some good shots. I like that the freshmen played well within our system today, and I also thought we had good leadership on the court from our upperclassmen to help pull them along."

NOTES
• This ends Millersville's 12-game win streak in season openers, with its last season opening loss coming in 2005. 
• This was the first match the Marauders and Falcons have played in their history. 

UP NEXT
• Millersville will be back in action tomorrow when they take on UVA-Wise at 1 p.m. in another neutral site contest in West Chester, Pa.
 

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