WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Washington & Jefferson women's basketball team returned to the court by dropping a 76-64 decision at host Catholic on the opening day of the Jamie Lynn Roberts-Fairfield Inn DC Holiday Tournament.

The loss drops the Presidents to 5-4 on the season. W&J will play the College of Saint Benedict (Minn.) in the consolation game tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 30) at 1 p.m. CSB competes in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and is the all-women sister school of St. John's (Minn.). Catholic, meanwhile, improves to 9-1 on the season.

W&J trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half (3:47 of the second quarter, 40-26), but closed the stanza on a 12-1 run to trail by just three, 41-38, at halftime. Danni Medovich (Frederick, Md./Walkersville) started the run with a three-pointer at 2:48, and Taley Dunaway (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) scored the next five points to close the gap to six, 40-34, at 1:59. Danielle Parker (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) recorded the final four points of the half on a pair of layups in the final 1:12 to bring the Presidents within the halftime margin.

In the second half, W&J got as close as five, 69-64, with 2:41 left in the game on a layup by Mya Gordon (Washington, Pa./Washington), but it would be the last points registered by the visitors on the day as the Cardinals closed out the game with seven points to yield the final score.

Dunaway led the Presidents with a career-best 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. Parker and Amirah Moore (Moon Twp., Pa./Moon) both finished with 13 points, as Parker pulled down nine boards and Moore grabbed six steals. 

After making six three-pointers in the first half, the Presidents finished just 1-of-9 in the second half from beyond-the-arc, part of a 9-of-29 showing from the floor in the half.