Worcester, Mass. (December 29) -- Assumption rallied from a 10-point deficit to take an eight-point second-half lead before the No. 12 ranked Hounds fell to visiting NYIT by an 84-80 final in non-conference play at Laska Gym. Assumption is 12th in the latest USA Today/ESPN Division II National Top-25 Poll, the highest ranking in program history.

Assumption jumped out to a 10-point lead in the opening five minutes on a layup from Katy Howard (Medway, Mass./Medway) and continued to hold a seven-point edge at 26-19 with 10:38 remaining in the first half. The story over the remainder of the half was the three-point shooting of NYIT as the Lady Bears connected on 11 straight three-pointers in the first period, including a three from the corner by Alexandra Venuto that glanced off the glass and in. Venuto was fouled on the play and hit the free throw to complete the four-point play. The lead increased to 10 before a three-point play from senior All-American candidate Kelly Meredith (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) made it a 50-43 margin at the break.

In the second half, the Hounds came out firing and just 5:29 into the period, the Hounds tied the game at 59 on a jumper from Tafanie Roye (New Britain, Conn./Capital Prep Magnet). Assumption built the lead up to eight and still led by five with 4:17 left. The Lady Bears took the lead for good on a layup by Cierra Baker with 2:38 left and pushed the lead to three with 1:12 left on another Baker basket. The Hounds cut the lead back to one though as Marissa Velez (Barre, Vt./Spaulding) found Howard cutting to the basket off an inbounds play to make it an 81-80 game with 55.7 seconds left. Baker sealed the game in the final seconds with three points and a key steal as the Hounds had their 15-game regular-season winning streak snapped.

Meredith led the Hounds with 27 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the field, moving into sixth place on the Assumption all-time scoring list with 1,304 career points. Howard also finished in double figures with 20 points, including four three-pointers. Baker led four Lady Bears in double figures with a 28-point, 11-rebound double-double.

With the loss, the Hounds fall to 9-1 overall, while NYIT now sits at 6-4 on the season.

Assumption is back in action on Friday night as the Hounds host Queens College for a 7 p.m. start at Laska Gym. The game is the final non-conference contest of the season for the Hounds.