The Waynesburg University women’s basketball team fell short this past Tuesday to Carnegie Mellon 81-72 in overtime as the team combined to miss 14 free throws on the afternoon.

Even though the team struggled all night, head coach Sam Jones was happy with some of the production his players gave him.

“I was pretty pleased with a lot of things. There are definitely a few possessions I would to have back,” said Jones. “I’m very disappointed we lost, but I did see a few things that got me excited.”

The poor night shooting from the free throw line for the Jackets (5-4), who on the season had been shooting well through this point, caused the team too many problems, according to Jones.

“We gave up too many offensive rebounds to them and were uncharacteristically poor from the foul line,” said Jones. “We’ve been over 70 percent as a team but we were under 50 [percent] tonight, which was costly not only because of the points, but the momentum it killed at times.”

Senior forward Mackenna Drazich scored 14 points in the first half to give Waynesburg a 37-34 lead, but the rest of the game she only added four more points—ending with a game high 18 with three made 3-pointers.

“They made some defensive adjustments in the second half and I think a couple of the shots she hit in the first half, she missed in the second half,” said Jones. “That’s the way the game of basketball goes [sometimes].”

Even though this was a non-conference loss to the Tartans (7-2), Jones is unhappy with the result, but also understands that long-term the game will have little impact.

“I mean it’s frustrating, I hate losing and we had the opportunity to win and we didn’t capitalize,” said Jones. “It’s the ninth game of the year it’s a little too early to have a single game affect anything or to be worrisome really.”

Junior point guard Monica Starre tied for the team lead with five assists and 11 rebounds, while senior forward Addy Knetzer also had 11 rebounds and shot 5-of-13 from the field, adding another career double-double in the process. Even with the double-double, Knetzer struggled on the road, but according to Jones, even great players have off nights.

“It wasn’t her greatest night, but she came up big in a couple moments and did some nice thing—but again that’s the way the game goes sometimes,” said Jones.

The Jackets played five extra minutes of basketball and used five bench players, but sophomore guard Erin Joyce saw the most minutes off the bench with 13, which Jones attributed to the flow of the game.

“it’s just want the game dictated, it’s just the way it goes some times,” said Jones.