First-Period Start Too Much To Overcome For Ferris State Women's Basketball In Home Opener

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's basketball team couldn't overcome a first-quarter deficit as visiting Cedarville (Ohio) beat the Bulldogs 72-43 in non-league play on Tuesday (Nov. 24) night in FSU's 2015-16 home opener inside Jim Wink Arena.

The Yellow Jackets, who reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago in the Midwest Region, bolted out to a 23-5 first period lead thanks to heavy full-court pressure against the Bulldogs in the home debut for first-year head coach Kendra Faustin.

From that point forward, though, the Bulldogs kept each of the final three periods close in falling to Cedarville, which improved to 2-3 overall this season. FSU dropped to 0-3 on the year.

Junior forward Joslyn Nicholson tallied a team-high 15 points for the Bulldogs and grabbed seven rebounds, but was the lone FSU player to reach double-figure scoring in the setback. 

Along with Nicholson, junior guard Emily Evans tallied nine points with a personal career-high six steals and three assists. Freshman forward Abby Nakfoor added four points and six rebounds while sophomore center Rachel McInerney also had six boards on the Bulldog side.

Ferris State was limited to 27.5% shooting and turned the ball over 28 times against Cedarville's pressure. However, FSU also forced 23 turnovers by the Yellow Jackets.

The Bulldogs finished one-of-10 (10%) behind the three-point line and went 14-of-20 (70%) at the free throw stripe overall. 

Meanwhile, Cedarville shot 43.1% for the night and hit seven-of-21 (33.3%) three's to go with nine-of-14 (64.3%) free throws.

Cedarville was paced by Kaysie Brittenham, who netted 16 points in the winning effort. Breanne Watterworth added 12 points while both Christina McQueen and Ellie Juengel scored 10 points apiece.

Ferris State was outrebounded 50-31 for the night and Cedarville recorded a 36-16 edge in points scored inside the paint. The Yellow Jackets also received 36 points off the bench compared to 13 for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs managed to come up with 16 steals thanks to six from Evans along with four by senior guard Katie Mavis. FSU also had eight assists and three blocked shots for the night compared to Cedarville's 21 assists, 14 steals and five blocks.

Ferris State will be back in action on Sunday (Nov. 29) as FSU heads to Lewis (Ill.) for a non-league regional matchup against the Flyers starting at 2 p.m. (ET) in Romeoville, Ill.