RALEIGH, N.C.  - The Meredith College basketball team collected a disappointing loss in Wednesday's USA South battle versus a tenacious Methodist Monarchs squad. After trailing by two points at the half, the Angels shot just 27.3 percent from the field in the second to fall short in tonight's contest.

Meredith held their largest lead of 11 points during the first 9:28 and seemed to be in control of the game.

But the Monarchs broke a scoring drought of 2:19 on a three-point shot from Monique Lofton to shift the momentum.

The Angels turned the ball over on the next play, and Methodist took advantage with another Lofton point.

Jessi Hayes hit a pair of free throws after being fouled on a drive through the paint to maintain a nine-point Meredith lead.

With 5:35 remaining in the period, the Monarchs finally capitalized on the third consecutive Meredith miscue to launch a 15-2 MU run that would put the visitors out front by four with seconds left on the clock.

Meredith's Brittaney Rice managed to net a short jumper in the final seconds of the period to dampen the visitor's run heading into the break.

The Angels remained even with Methodist during the first 4:38 of the second period, when MU's Kayla Pless drained back-to-back threes to push the Monarch lead to seven. MU extended their advantage to 13 before Meredith could respond.

With 6:56 remaining in regulation, Danielle Lee dished the ball to Kim Hinton for a layup. Lee followed with a second chance bucket after an MU turnover to cut the deficit back to single digits.

Strong ball movement and defensive pressure kept the Monarchs in the lead down the stretch to hand the Angels their fourth conference loss this season.

Hinton posted her fourth double-double on the season with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and Raven Gregory recorded her first with 11 points, 10 boards. Lee finished with 12 points, adding four assists in the loss.

MU's Alexis Wallace and Press led the Monarchs with 11 points apiece.

Meredith continues their home series this weekend playing host to the Averett Cougars Saturday and Greensboro College Sunday. Both games are scheduled to tip at 2 p.m.

The YMCA Super Skippers will perform during halftime of Saturday's contest. This three-time national champion competitive jump rope team performs locally as well as nationally. They are dedicated to teaching leadership and promoting jump rope as a healthy activity that can be fun!