The Lancers missed a total of 51 field goals in the upset loss to the No. 8-seed Cougars, falling into the consolation bracket of the championship.
"This was a disappointing loss mostly because the effort was just not there and I thought our attitude was poor all night," said Interim Head Coach Jeff Caha. "We needed people to step up and the girls that had led us all year didn't do that. I don't care who you're playing, you can't win like that and especially not at a national tournament."
CBU had just two players in double figures. Along with the season-low shooting clip, CBU committed 27 turnovers, the second highest total this season.
The Lancers stayed in it through a tough first half, but couldn't complete the comeback in the end.
After an easy layup to open the first half, things went downhill in a hurry for the Lancers as CBU trailed by as much as 13 in the opening period.
Seven straight points, capped by a 3-pointer from Myriah Hicks, got the Lancers back in business, down by just six at 25-19.
CBU would close the half on a 9-2 run to trail 27-25 going into the break.
CCU got offensive production from six of the eight players that touched the floor for the Cougars in the first half.
Hicks scored nine of CBU's 21.
The second half opened in promising fashion as well, as the Lancers tied the game for the first time at 30-30. A quick 10-2 run put CCU back up by eight, however.
Late in the game the Lancers made one final push, using nine consecutive points to pull within five at 58-53 with 2:48 to play.
CBU couldn't complete the comeback, though, as the Cougars' Christina Whitelaw scored seven points in the last two and a half minutes to seal the double digit victory.
Whitelaw poured in a game-high 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds. 20 of the CCU guards 27 were scored in the second half.
CBU never led in the game.
"Give credit to CCU," said Caha. "Those are really good kids that played really hard for each other. That's what we needed to do and we didn't."
Hicks led the team with 15 points and Alexis Johnson had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the double-double. Jasmine Beverly led all players with 17 boards, grabbing 11 on the offensive end.
"Jasmine has been doing that every game lately and Alexis gave us some good hustle in the paint at times," said Caha.
CBU actually out-rebounded the Cougars 51-38. CCU shot 38.3 percent in the game to more than make up the difference, though.
CBU falls to 21-6 on the season and will face No. 4 Emmanuel Thursday at 10:15 a.m. (EDT).
