CALDWELL, N.J. – The Felician University women's basketball team turned in a strong defensive effort on Thursday evening, but dropped a 49-45 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference decision to host Caldwell University on the George R. Newman Center's Corino Court.

Sophomore Briana Lee (Jersey City, N.J.) paced Felician (0-3, 0-3 CACC) with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four steals. The Golden Falcons, who held Caldwell to 33-percent shooting and forced 23 Cougar turnovers, also received 11 points from sophomore Haylee Ramirez (North Bergen, N.J.).

Sophomore Rosie Arias (Linden, N.J.) registered seven points and five rebounds for Felician, which could not leverage a 50-37 rebounding edge.

Felician trailed, 16-5, after six minutes of action, and 21-10 at the end of one period. But the visitors tallied the first nine points of the second quarter and used two late Lee free throws to trail just 24-21 at halftime.

For all but 29 seconds of the second half, the sides were within one possession of each other. The Cougars and Golden Falcons were deadlocked, 35-35, to start the fourth period, and even again at 45-45 after Caldwell's Paula Dits (Alicante, Spain) split a pair of three throws with one minute, 47 seconds, left in regulation time.

Cougar junior Shadajah Thomas (Plainfield, N.J.) blocked a Golden Falcon shot, and teammate Halle Brown (Downingtown, Pa.) again made 1 of 2 at the foul line to put the hosts ahead. The teams then traded missed three-pointers. On the Caldwell miss, Felician grabbed the long rebound and appeared poised to take the lead in transition, but the lead pass was too long and went out of bounds at the 0:14 mark.

Thomas and Brown combined for 3 of 4 at the charity stripe in the closing seconds to secure the win for Caldwell (1-2, 1-2). Felician did not score for the game's final 3:27. Brown led the Cougars with 19 points and six assists, while Dits totaled 14 points and eight rebounds. Caldwell survived a 7 for 16 showing at the foul line by holding the Golden Falcons to 24-percent shooting from the field on the night.

Felician returns home to take on Dominican (N.Y.) College on Saturday at 1 p.m. No spectators are allowed at CACC events this season; check www.caccnetwork.com for webstream details.