LINCOLN, Neb. - The Westminster College Lady Blue Jays basketball team was outscored 23-15 in the fourth quarter and bowed to the Nebraska Wesleyan Lady Prairie Wolves 83-81 on Tuesday night.
Westminster (1-2) was down 43-39 at halftime, but outscored Nebraska Wesleyan 27-17 in the third quarter to go in front 66-60. The Lady Blue Jays widened their lead to 10 points at 76-66 on sophomore guard Corrie Reece's 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 8 seconds left in the game.
Sophomore guard Reese Arnold then connected on a 3 with 3:15 to play, giving Westminster a 79-70 advantage. The Lady Prairie Wolves, though, countered with a 10-0 run to take an 80-79 edge when Caitlin Navratil converted a three-point play with 1:40 remaining.
The Lady Blue Jays regained the lead on Arnold's layup with 1:21 to go, but Nebraska Wesleyan (2-1) went in front to stay at 82-81 on Mikenzie Delgado's jumper with :54 left. Navratil then made 1-of-2 free throws with :25 to play, putting the Lady Prairie Wolves up by two points.
Westminster had three shots in the final :13 to pull off a dramatic victory or force overtime, but couldn't convert.
"We had a tough loss tonight to a scrappy Nebraska Wesleyan team," Lady Blue Jays head coach Talisha Washington said. "They capitalized on a lot of their second-chance opportunities and that hurt us down the stretch.
"Our girls fought hard to the end and put up a great team effort tonight."
Reese Arnold hit 8-of-14 shots - including 5-of-8 from behind the arc - in logging 22 points as Westminster shot 47 percent overall (32-of-68) and 46 percent (12-of-26) from 3-point range.
Senior forward Mikalyn Callahan followed with 18 points for the Lady Blue Jays, who committed 23 turnovers. Sophomore guard Jackie Arnold added 17 points off the bench.
Callahan and Reece both collected nine rebounds as Westminster was outrebounded 40-33.
Navratil posted a triple-double with game-highs of 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists as the Lady Prairie Wolves shot 48 percent (30-of-62) as a team and survived 28 turnovers.
Delgado supplied 17 points for Nebraska Wesleyan and McKenzie Teten contributed 11.
The Lady Blue Jays host Wartburg (Iowa) College at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Ryan Boland can be reached at (573) 826-2422, or on Twitter @FultonSunSports.