IMMACULATA, Pa.- After a pair of convincing wins to close out the week a week ago, the Immaculata University women's basketball team (3-2) returned home to face off against a former conference rival in the Cairn Highlanders. After a tightly contested first quarter of play, Immaculata began to pull away in the second before getting the offense rolling in the third to easily earn the 75-39 non-league victory.

For the game as a whole, Immaculata trailed for just 23 seconds surrendering the lead only briefly during the first quarter while building its lead to as many as 39 early in the fourth period of play.

In the first period of play, Immaculata raced out to an early 5-0 lead before Cairn answered back with a 7-0 run to claim a slim 7-5 lead with just under six minutes to play in the opening period. This would prove to be the only lead of the game for Cairn as the Macs answered back with a 16-7 run to close the quarter with a 21-14 lead.

In the second quarter of play, Immaculata opened up with another 6-0 run to claim a commanding 27-14 lead with 8:33 to play in the half. The remainder of the second quarter was a very low-scoring affair as Immaculata managed just four more points in the quarter while its guests scored eight points to send the game to the halftime break with Immaculata leading 31-22.

In the first half of play, Theresa Kearney led all scorers once again pouring in 10 points on a game-high 5-of-8 shooting from the field through the opening 20 minutes. Despite drilling a three just minutes into the game to cap the early 5-0 run, Immaculata was just 1-of-11 from deep in the opening half of basketball with the lone three coming from Jordan Rook just over one minute into the game.

In the third quarter of play, Immaculata got out to a hot-start offensively and the Macs did not relent throughout the stanza outscoring its guests 30-5 to claim a commanding 61-27 lead heading to the third quarter. During the fourth quarter, Immaculata and Cairn traded baskets as the Highlanders tried to mount a comeback, however, the Immaculata lead proved to be more than enough as the Macs rolled to a convincing 75-39 victory to run its winning streak to three in a row.

Shannon Kelly ended the contest as the game's leading scorer with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting while also leading a trio of Mighty Macs in doubles figures as Kearney finished with 18 points while Brielle Rigo added 14 points of her own in the victory. Rigo also posted a game-high nine rebounds in the victory with seven of her nine boards coming on the offensive glass for the Mighty Macs. Jordan Rook and Molly Gallagher tied for the lead in assists as they each dished out four helpers in the victory.

As a team, Immaculata ended the contest shooting 28-of-71 (39.4 %) from the field while also going 4-for-24 (16.7 %) from beyond the arc. Immaculata was nearly perfect from the line in the victory as the Macs went 15-of-17 (88.2 %) from the stripe this evening, marking the team's best shooting performance at the line of the season.

Dakota Hitchner was the lone Highlander to enter into double figures in the scoring column as she finished with 17 points and seven rebounds in the setback.

Immaculata will now begin a lengthy road trip with its next contest set for Saturday afternoon at Wilson beginning at 2 p.m. with the teams next home game not coming until December 18 when Rowan visits Alumnae Hall.