HOUGHTON, N.Y. - Women's basketball served Houghton its first loss on Tuesday evening with a score of 61-55 in Nazareth's second conference competition of the season. Sarina McDowell led the team in both scoring, and on the boards, earning herself a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

With the win, Nazareth's record improves to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference, while Houghton drops to 9-1 overall and 0-1 in the Empire 8 conference.

In the first quarter, neither team held a multi-possession lead for the first five minutes of the game, until Houghton was finally able to break that barrier with a three to give itself a five-point lead. Though the Golden Flyers fought, they were unable to completely close that gap and the Highlanders led 20-13 at the end of the quarter.

Madilann Johnson led the scoring in the first quarter with five, while McDowell added four. Kiara Anglin and Katie MacLachlan each contributed two.

The second quarter was Nazareth's best in terms of shooting percentage, going 46.67% from the field. The Golden Flyers' defense also picked up in the second quarter, cutting the Highlanders' scoring in half and only allowing 10 points to be scored on Nazareth's bucket. The Golden Flyers' step up allowed it to outscore Houghton by eight in the second quarter, giving Nazareth a one-point lead heading into the half.

McDowell led the scoring in the second quarter with seven, followed by Anglin with three. MacLachlan, Madalyn Kelly, Molly Benetti, and Johnson each added two in the quarter.

The third quarter was a scoring slump for the Golden Flyers, but the defense experienced no such lull, as Nazareth held the Highlanders to only 10 points once again. Though it was Nazareth's lowest shooting percentage quarter, the Golden Flyers were still able to outscore Houghton by one, giving Nazareth a two-point gap heading into the final quarter.

Scoring in the third for Nazareth was Payton Littlefield with six on two from behind the arc, McDowell with two, and Anglin, Benetti, and Leah Fusilli all with one.

The final quarter was similar to the first in that after the second bucket of the quarter, the game was very back and forth, with multiple lead changes and neither team leading by multiple possessions until there was around three minutes left in the game when McDowell scored a layup and a three back-to-back. McDowell's buckets gave Nazareth a six-point lead with 2:56 left to play. For the remainder of the game, Nazareth was able to hold the multi-possession lead and the game concluded in favor of the Golden Flyers 61-55.

In the final quarter McDowell had nine points, Anglin and MacLachlan each had four, and Kelly had two.

McDowell led the scoring and rebounding efforts for the Golden Flyers with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while also tallying three steals. Anglin had 10 points on the game, along with seven rebounds, five steals, and two blocks. MacLachlan added eight points, eight assists, and six rebounds. Johnson scored seven points, as well as adding four rebounds and four assists. Littlefield scored six points off of two threes. Kelly totaled four points, while Benetti added three along with eight rebounds and three steals. Fusilli tallied three rebounds and added a free throw to the scoreboard.

The Golden Flyers will be back on the floor at 5:30 p.m. on January 10th at home for another conference game against Utica.