CHESTERTOWN, Md.- The Immaculata University women's basketball team opened its 2019-20 season on Saturday afternoon at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. Despite outscoring its hosts in the second quarter and nearly matching them in the fourth, Washington College used strong shooting performances in the first and third quarters to earn the 73-56 victory over Immaculata.

In the first quarter, Washington went on a late run, which gave the host Shorewomen an 18-8 lead heading to the second. The second quarter of play brought a change of fortunes for the Macs as they began the quarter on a 17-6 run, which gave them a 25-24 lead with just over three minutes to play in the half. From this point, Washington answered back with a small run of its own to regain the lead and carry a 34-27 lead into the halftime break.

During the third quarter of play, Immaculata started off strong as the Mighty Macs traded baskets with the Shorewomen throughout the early part of the quarter before a late Washington College run gave the hosts a 50-34 lead heading to the fourth and final quarter of play.

In the final stanza, Immaculata and Washington traded baskets and runs throughout much of the quarter as Washington ended the quarter outscoring its guests by just one (23-22), however, the deficit entering the quarter proved to be too much to overcome in the setback.

Theresa Kearney tied for the game lead in scoring this afternoon scoring a team-high 18 points while teammate Shannon Kelly chipped in 11 points of her own as the other Mighty Mac in double figures. Kearney also ended just four rebounds shy of a double-double as she pulled down six boards with three offensive rebounds and three defensive rebounds while teammate Brielle Rigo led the Macs in rebounding with a game-high 10 on the afternoon. Kelly also ended the afternoon with a team-high three assists.

For Washington, Caitlyn Clark led the way offensively as she scored a team-high 18 points while teammates Taylor Samuels and Bridget McLaughlin joined in her in double figures with 13 points and 10 points, respectively. McLaughlin narrowly missed a double-double as she ended her afternoon with nine rebounds in addition to her 10 points.

As a team, Immaculata was 16-of-57 (28.1 %) from the field while going 10-of-24 (41.7 %) from deep. Immaculata also ended the afternoon with a 14-for-22 (63.6 %) performance from the charity stripe. Washington was 22-of-48 (45.8 %) from the field while shooting just 5-of-14 (35.7 %) from three-point range. The Shorewomen also shot just over 70 percent from the line going 24-of-34 from the stripe. Washington also ended the contest with a slim +3 edge in rebounding (38-35) and a +5 (13-18) edge in turnovers.

Immaculata now turn its attention to its home-opener on Tuesday evening when Haverford visits Alumnae Hall with that contest set to begin at 6 p.m. in the first of three games for the Mighty Macs next week.