WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – A slow start cost the Cabrini University women's basketball team this afternoon as the Middlebury College Panthers escaped with a 61-54 victory on the second day of the Williams Shooting Touch Classic.
 
The Cavs jumped out to an early 4-3 lead in the first quarter, thanks to layups from Katie Rodriguez and Dani Tyrell to start the game but the Panthers netted 15 of the next 19 points to close out the opening quarter with an 18-8 advantage.
 
Middlebury increased its lead to 14 points before Miranda Liebtag and Hannah Fenstermacher hit back-to-back three pointers in the final three minutes of the first half to bring the Blue and White eight points shy of a tie game, 31-23. In the waning seconds of the first half the Panthers added four points from the charity line while Liebtag added two free throws of her own to make the score 35-25 headed into the break.

The Cavaliers continued to chip away, whittling the lead down to seven with 7:46 left in the third quarter after a layup from Liebtag. The Panthers went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:05 with Alexa Mustafaj stealing the ball and knocking down a free throw to extend the lead back up to 14, 44-30. Middlebury maintained a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the quarter and went into the final frame with a 51-38 lead. 
 
Cabrini opened the fourth stanza with a 6-0 burst, capped by a Brielle Fitzpatrick layup, to cut the deficit to seven, 51-44, with just over five minutes remaining. That was as close as the Cavaliers would get as the Panthers escaped with the 61-54 victory. 
Liebtag and Brielle Fitzpatrick each had 13 points for Cabrini, while Liebtag had a team high eight boards. Tyrell finished the game with eight points and three steals, Rodriguez also had three steals to go along with six points. Fenstermacher added six points with a pair of treys coming off the bench.
 
Mustafaj led all scorers with 20 points while grabbing seven rebounds for the Panthers. Reagan McDonald joined Mustafaj in double figures with 11 points. 
 
Middlebury controlled the glass with 46 rebounds to Cabrini's 36 and had 14 second-chance points to Cabrini's four.

With the loss the Cavaliers' record drops to 2-5 on the season. They will look to get back on track as they return home to host Ursinus College this Wednesday at 7PM.