CMS Women's Basketball Can't Shake off Rust in Loss to Whitworth

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior forward Mary Markaryan matched her career high with 18 points, but the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team couldn't get clicking offensively after a 12-day layoff and dropped a 59-48 decision to Whitworth on Monday afternoon at Roberts Pavilion.

Whitworth improves to 3-6 on the season, while CMS slips to 1-8 with the loss. 

Markaryan matched her career high of 18 points that she set earlier this season at Chapman, but the Athenas fell behind 20-8 after the first quarter and couldn't get their offense going until late in the game, when they hit four shots in a row to get the lead down to 11 points.    

Ruva Kiara started the spurt with a spin move for a lay-up, and Sadie Heckman followed with a steal and a tough runner from the right side of the paint. Markaryan then made back-to-back baskets to close to within 53-42 with 3:24 to play, and Syona Mandyam hit a jumper to make the score 54-44 with 1:57 left, but that was as close as CMS could come. 

Mandyam, Georgeanna Dempsey and Tanya Ghai each had six points, as Markaryan finished as the only Athena in double figures. Mandyam added a team-high seven rebounds. Kimberly Dewey led Whitworth with 16 points, while Zalissa Sanfo contributed eight points, 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Pirates. 

CMS will be back in action on Dec. 29 when it hosts Tufts at 2 p.m.