The Belmont Abbey women's basketball team, playing its first game in 13 days, fell to the visiting Mars Hill Lions by a 66-59 score this afternoon at the Wheeler Center. Mars Hill moves its record to 3-8, while the Abbey falls to 3-4.

Belmont Abbey shot 29 percent from the floor as senior guard Kelsey Daniel led a pair of Crusaders with 14 points and seven rebounds. Six of her rebounds came on the offensive end. She also had five steals and three assists in 24 minutes. Daniel attempted seven field goals, converting five and finished four of seven from the free throw line. Sophomore forward Paula Regalado also finished with 14 points, sinking five of her 12 field goal attempts with six rebounds in 21 minutes. Asha Hardaway added 12 points on four of eight shooting, to go along with eight rebounds. Senior guard Courtney Naquin moved closer to the 1,000 career point plateau with nine points, giving her 976 for her career. She also had five assists.

Mars Hill was led by Brittini Young's game-high 29 points on nine of 15 shooting, including four three-point field goals on six tries. She sank seven of her nine free throw attempts. She was the only Mars Hill player to reach double figures, as the registered a 54.5 percent effort shooting from the field, and 45 percent from three-point range. Taylor Deal led all players with 11 rebounds and dished out three assists, blocked two shots and recorded a steal.

The Abbey bolted out to a 7-1 lead in the early moments, but Mars Hill gradually cut into the lead and would take it for good at 11-10 with 12:07 left in the first half. The cushion went as high as nine points, but the Abbey closed to within a point behind the strength of an 8-0 run, using free throws from Regalado, Hardaway, Naquin and Amanda McDonald. Regalado punctuated the run with a driving layup to trim the Mars Hill lead to 27-26 with 2:03 left, but Mars Hill scored the final five points of the stanza to take a 32-26 lead into the half.

Mars Hill never relinquished its lead in the second half, which grew to as many as 13 points at 60-47 with 6:13 left, but the Abbey mounted one final charge, getting as close as four points behind a 9-0 run to close Mars Hill's cushion to 60-56 with 2:52 left. A free throw by Daniel, a traditional three-point play from Regalado, a layup from Daniel and a free throw by Ashley Giddens pulled the Abbey to within six, and Regalado capped the run with a layup. Mars Hill would regroup by outscoring the Abbey 6-3 in the final 2:26 to hang on for the win.