LAKEWOOD, N.J.- On a night the Georgian Court University women's basketball squad honored its seniors, the Lions came up short in their season-finale, falling to the University of the Sciences, 68-54, Tuesday evening in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) action.

In a pre-game ceremony in the GCU Wellness Center, the Lions said "thank you" to their seniors, Shauneia McPhearson, Ebony Sellers, and Christina White.

The two opponents played a close first-half with the contest tied at 23-23 with just 5:20 remaining until intermission. Two free throws from senior Elsebeth Birman (Silver Springs, Md.) with 5:05 remaining ignited a 13-4 USciences run, giving the Devils (13-11, 11-6 CACC) a 36-27 advantage with 43 ticks left until halftime.

Birman led all scorers with 12 first-half points, including two three-pointers. McPhearson dropped in 11 for Georgian Court, shooting 5-for-8 from the field.

Entering the second stanza up 36-29, the Devils increased the lead to 13 after two more Birman free throws at the 15:03 mark. The Lions quickly answered with a 9-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 42-38. The Devils regained the momentum and increased its advantage to 12 points (57-45) at 6:05, but Georgian Court refused to quit as they ripped off a speedy 7-0 run.

With a lead of 57-52 at 3:18, the Devils hammered away on the proverbial nail in the coffin as Jessica Sylvester (So.-Trevose, Pa.) and Brianne Traub (So.-Wayne, N.J.) drilled back-to-back three-balls to give the visitors a 63-52 lead with 1:04 to go in regulation.

Birman and Becca Ruggear (Sr.-Collingdale, Pa.) each dropped a team-high 16 points on the Lions, while Sylvester (11) and Traub (10) also eclipsed double-digits in the Devils' scoring column. Ruggear also grabbed ten boards to complete the double-double effort to go along with a game-high seven steals and five blocks.


McPhearson, for the 17th time this season, led GCU in scoring, this time with a game-high 19 points. Brittany Baker and Elizabeth Lawler dominated the boards for Georgian Court with 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively.

The shooting between the two squads was virtually even as the Devils outshot the Lions, 33.9% (19-for-56) to 33.8% (23-for-68). USciences owned a comfortable advantage at the charity stripe, shooting a tidy 82.1% (23-28) compared to 58.3% (7-for-12) for GCU.

The Lions finish the campaign with an 8-17 mark (7-12 CACC), the team's best season-ending record since also winning eight contests back in 2009-10.