"We didn't do all the little things and weren't tough enough to pull out the upset over the No. 1 ranked team in the nation," noted Jamy Bechler. "We did a lot of good things, but just not enough. We are the top two rebounding teams in the nation, and tonight they were tougher on the boards. Bagwell is a great rebounder but we can't allow her to have 19 boards. Missing a bunch of free throws also hurt us. When you are playing the No. 1 team, you have to be clicking on all cylinders. Keri really battled on the boards until she got hurt at the start of the second half. Vee had a strong second half for us. Freed really did a good job making it tough on Becca and Jessy to get good looks at the basket. We are so close, but we have to keep striving to do the little things."

The RedHawks opened scoring with a 6-0 run in the first three minutes, putting the pressure on the Lady Lions, who responded with a 9-0 run of their own to take the lead. The two teams went nearly basket-for-basket until the 10 minute mark when FHU begin to inch away. With 2:30 left to go, Freed had forced their lead to 10, and seven points on their final three possessions pushed the lead to 39-25 at the half.

Down by 14, MMC began to overcome their deficit throughout the start of the second half as Becca Smithson mad back-to-back baskets. Climbing back to a 10-point hole on a Rachel Brown bucket with just over six minutes to go, the RedHawks stayed within that margin for the next four minutes, as Young made the final two free throws of the game for a final score of 68-60.

The RedHawks outshot the Lady Lions, 37.1 percent to 36 percent, but went only 3-14 from long range after an 11-22 performance Monday night. Micah Anderson knocked down 13 points, followed by Smithson's 11, while Young posted a double-double in the second half alone, with 14 points and 11 rebounds down the stretch.

MMC was No.1 in rebounding margin in the NAIA and FHU was No.3 prior to this contest, but it was FHU won the battle of the boards 47-42. Additionally, Freed's Maria Bagwell is the nation's leading rebounder with 13 rebounds per game, while the Lady Lions also boast current NAIA Player of the Week, Natalie Shumpert.

In their third Top 25 game in the past two weeks, MMC has seen single-digit margins of loss to all three teams. Losing by eight to Freed on Thursday, MMC fell by just seven to No. 3 Union, and by five to No. 25 Lyon

MMC is back in action this weekend, on the road to Cumberland University for a Saturday contest, before returning to the CLC next Thursday at 6pm to host Bethel University.