NASHVILLE – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball program had another tough battle this weekend falling 74-63 to Trevecca Nazarene. The Cardinals were tied 55-55 heading into the fourth quarter before being outscored by 11.

The Cardinals were led by Victoria Stafford who scored a career-high 22 points shooting 10-16 from the floor. Aleshia Jones had 17 along with a career-high eight points from Maggie Keinsley. Tyler Scheid led the team with six rebounds while Jones, Stafford, and Lauren Sollom each ripped down five boards. Saginaw Valley outshot the Trojans shooting 44.6% from the floor and 33.3% from beyond the arc.

Buckets were traded to open up the contest as Jones started the scoring with a layup and Stafford hit a three for her first points. Stafford got a layup and a foul to give SVSU their first lead 8-7 before the seesaw match continued. Whenever one team got a slim lead, the other took it away. A quick 5-0 run for the Trojans gave Trevecca Nazarene an 18-14 advantage before back-to-back threes for Jones tied it up 20-20. Saniaa Walker got the last shot of the quarter to go as the teams finished the first quarter tied 22-22.

The battle raged on in the second. The Trojans took advantage of some free throws to go up by four 31-27 before Jones hit a layup and a three pointer to make it 33-32 Trevecca Nazarene. After a timeout, Sollom laid in back-to-back buckets to give Saginaw Valley a 36-33 lead. The Trojans closed out the half with five free throws to go ahead 38-36 into the break.

The Trojans picked it up in the third taking an eight-point lead with a 6-0 run. An 8-2 run to answer for SVSU coming from two Keinsley threes and a Stafford layup cut it to two points. A layup for Keinsley and two points from the charity strip for Jones gave the Cardinals a 51-50 advantage late in the third. The Trojans got a three pointer and a jumper while Stafford made two layups to answer to tie the game 55-55 heading into the final quarter.

Similar to the day before, the fourth quarter was the toughest for SVSU. Emma Dziezgowski got Saginaw Valley ahead with two three pointers, but the Trojans answered both times to tie the game up. After being knotted at 61-61, the Trojans would take a 13-2 run to close out the contest as Saginaw Valley got their last bucket from Stafford. The free throws became too much and the Cardinals couldn't come back after a hard-fought game.

Saginaw Valley women's basketball is now 3-7 on the year. They have a couple days off before more action in Tennessee when they play Carson-Newman on Tuesday, December 19. Tip-off is set for 12:00 PM EST from Jefferson City.