SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The No. 10 Pittsburg State women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, 72-62 to Rockhurst, on Saturday (November 29) night at the O'Reilly Event Center in the final game of the Doubletree/Houlihan's Thanksgiving Classic.

Lizzy Jeronimus led the Gorillas with 14 points. She was named to the All-Tournament team. Cathy Brugman added 13 and Kylie Gafford, 12. Gafford and Brugman each had three blocks in the game. Brugman led the team with five rebounds.

The Gorillas shot 35 percent overall, and only .276 in the second half. Rockhurst hit .552 in the second half and .474 for the game. The Hawks also outrebounded the Gorillas by 20, 45-25.

Lauren Meyers led the Hawks with 25 points. Jill Myers added 14, while Mary Dineen and Laura Wilson each scored 11.

Brugman scored the first points of the game for the Gorillas and had scored 13 by the 10 minute mark. There was not a lot of scoring between the 10 and five minute media timeouts in the first half. Gorillas lead 25-16 at the under 10 minute media timeout, and the score was only 27-19 five minutes later.

Hadyn Herlocker broke the scoring drought with a three, which was followed by a Morgan Westhoff three on the next possession. The Gorillas didn't score again for the last 2:39 of the first half and went into the locker room with a narrow 33-29 lead.

Rockhurst scored the first four points of the second half to tie the game, 33-33. Gafford broke the tie and put the Gorillas back in the lead with a jumper down low.
The Hawks took their first lead of the game on a Lauren Meyers jumper with 16:36 to go. The two teams volleyed back and forth until Morgan Westhoff drained a three with 14:36 to go to put the Gorillas up by two 42-40.

Pitt State held onto that lead until a three by Meyers at 6:59 tied the game again, this time at 51-51.

Rockhurst took the lead again with 4:55 remaining as Kendall Hart made the second of two free throws. The two teams continued to exchange the lead until Lauren Wilson made a jumper down low to give Rockhurst its largest lead of the game to that point, 58-55. After two Gafford free throws on the other end, Meyers hit another three for a 61-57 Hawks lead.

Jeronimus brought the Gorillas within one with her first three of the season, but Rockhurst continued their tough play and extended its lead to seven with just under a minute remaining. The Gorillas were not able to hit a shot from the floor for the last 2:44 of the game.

The Gorillas travel to Arkadelphia, Ark. for a Monday (December 1) game at Henderson State. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.