HOUGHTON, N.Y— While the Highlanders were able to compete nearly point for point with the Golden Flyers of Nazareth College in the latter half of the game, the first period 20 point deficit contributed greatly to the 64-38 Golden Flyer win.

Nazareth opened the beginning of the first period with a 20-9 run lead. The two teams soon found themselves taking turns putting numbers on the board. With just over 7 minutes left in the first half, Houghton maintained the 11 point deficit.

The Golden Flyers kept the Highlanders to a halt by scoring 10 points consecutively. Regardless of the 6 points produced by Maisie Pipher (Lowman, NY, Twin Tiers Christian) and the 5 points by Hannah Manwaring (Barton, NY, Tioga Central HS), Houghton left the first period down 37-17.

While Nazareth scored 8 points consecutively at the beginning of the period, the two teams started to match each other rally for rally. After a neck and neck 13-11 point-run, Houghton still found themselves down by 24 points, 56-32.

With just over 5 minutes left in the game, there was a small 6-point spark; compliments of Pipher and Manwaring. The Golden flyers matched Houghton's gain before the conclusion of the game, giving the Highlanders the 64-38 loss.

Pipher contributed with 10 points in the second half, 16 points total on the night.

The Highlanders (3-8, 0-3) are back in action on Friday (1/9) where they will play away against Alfred University with a start time of 6 p.m.