NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In a game that featured 10 lead changes, the Norwich University women's basketball team saw a late surge fall just short, as the Cadets dropped a 71-63 contest at Albertus Magnus College in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Saturday afternoon.

Haley Brewster (Virginia Beach, Va.) led Norwich offensively, knocking down four three-pointers to finish with 20 points.  Sage MacAuley (Barre, Vt.) logged her second double-double of the season, adding 10 points to go with a game-high 11 caroms.

Albertus Magnus controlled the narrow lead early on, maintaining an advantage for the opening three minutes before Brewster's first trey gave Norwich a 9-8 lead.  The Falcons reclaimed their edge and held onto it for most of the opening stanza, but a 10-0 run by the Cadets, which included eight-straight points from Brewster, gave the visitors a two-point advantage at the end of the first 10 minutes.

The Falcons and Cadets exchanged baskets throughout the second, but a costly Albertus Magnus technical in the waning seconds allowed Norwich to knot things up at 36-all heading into halftime.  The Cadets carried this momentum over into the third frame, building a pair of six-point leads and maintaining it for a majority of the stanza, but Albertus Magnus recovered, taking their own six-point advantage to close the quarter.

Norwich did not turn away, however, keeping the game within single-digits and whittling the Falcons' eight-point lead down to four on back-to-back crafty layups from Eleonore Collins (Waterville, N.Y.) and Siobhan O'Donnell (Glendale, N.Y.), but Albertus Magnus iced the game on a pair of freebies and a layup before the final buzzer.

The Cadets held advantages in second chance points (17-11) and bench points (16-4), while crushing the Falcons on the glass, out-rebounding the hosts, 48-22.  Norwich attempted a whopping 24 free-throws, while shooting 42.0% from the floor.

Norwich returns home for a pair of games within the friendly confines of Andrews Hall, first hosting GNAC foe Elms College at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30, before quickly turning around and stepping out of league play for a Thursday, Feb. 1 non-conference clash with Southern Maine Community College.