LYNCHBURG, VA – The Randolph College women's basketball team opened its season at home Tuesday afternoon but couldn't overcome a 16-point halftime deficit in falling the Meredith College 77-66 in non-conference play from the Randolph Athletics and Dance (RAD) Center.

The first couple of minutes was back and forth, as Randolph took its last lead of the game at 9-8 thanks to a three-pointer from first-year Bri Lowry (Herndon, VA/Herndon). The Avenging Angels (1-0) went on a 15-2 run, highlighted by seven points from Bryana Holmes. The Angels would increase their lead up to as much as 22 points before going into halftime with a 16-point lead.

Randolph would make the necessary adjustments midway throughout the second half, and a team that played mostly first-years started to get comfortable with the speed of the game. Trailing by 18 at 64-46, Randolph went on a 13-2 run to cut the MC advantage to seven with 4:39 left after a lay-up by first-year Megan Russell (Pinnacle, NC/West Stokes).

Meredith would notch the next seven points though and would cruise to the 11-point victory. Senior guard Lauren French (Blairs, VA/Chatham) started her final season with Randolph with a solid 17 point, seven rebound performance, while Russell chalked up her first collegiate double-double with 14 points and 10 boards, adding four blocks and two steals as well.

Lowry finished with 16 points and seven helpers in her first contest, knocking down nine of 12 from the free throw line. First-year Chelsea Tyler (Richmond, VA/Henrico) had six points, six boards, five assists and three steals in 34 minutes of time, while Dyllan Peterson (Baltimore, MD/Bryn Mawr) added six points and four boards off the bench.

Meredith was paced by the game-high 32 points from Megan Rahn, as she finished 10-18 from the floor and 10-15 from the charity stripe. Rahn also had seven rebounds and four steals on the night. Holmes hit four triples en route to a 20-point showing, and Tyler Gresham had 10 points and seven boards in the win.

Randolph's downfall on Tuesday night was its shooting, as it hit on only 21-of-71 attempts from the floor. The WildCats lost the rebound battle by a slight 48-45 edge, though they did grab a whopping 24 offensive rebounds. Each team turned the ball over 20 times, but the Angels 45 percent shooting from the field proved to be the difference.

The WildCats will now head out to right outside Philadelphia to take on the Owls of Bryn Mawr College in non-conference action Saturday at 2 p.m.

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