WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. --- The Ave Maria women's basketball team dropped a back-and-forth battle at Northwood, 69-66, on Tuesday night. Annie Artise netted a career-high 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season to lead the Blue and Green.
 
Artise was 11-of-19 from the field and made 7-of-8 from the charity stripe en route to 31 points for AMU. Madison McDonald added 12 points and three assists while Saje Schlatterer chipped in 10 points and grabbed four rebounds. Yvanessa Vincent recorded eight points and nine rebounds. Savannah Foreman had three of the teams four blocks on the night.
 
The Lady Gyrenes shot 38.2 percent from the field but AMU, who ranks 22nd in three-point field goals made per game (7.3), made just 4-of-20 from behind the arc. Northwood shot 41.8 percent on the night and made nine treys. The Blue and Green were 20-of-24 from the free throw line compared to 14-of-26 by the Lady Seahawks.
 
It took the Lady Gyrenes a few moments to get warmed up but in that time, Northwood jumped out to a 7-0 lead three minutes into the game. Midway through the opening half, the Gyrenes trailed Northwood 22-12.
 
From there, the Blue and Green went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to two, 22-20, with 6:32 to play in the first. A free throw at the end of the half by Artise tied the game for the first time since 0-0 at 30-30.
 
The Lady Seahawks regained the lead in the opening seconds of the second half and held onto a slim lead for a majority of the half. The Lady Gyrenes finally broke through and took a lead on a McDonald layup with 3:07 to play to give AMU a 58-57 advantage.
 
The lead changed three more times in the final three minutes but Northwood made their last four free throws to hand the Lady Gyrenes a 69-66 loss.
 
AMU is back in action on Thursday night when they welcome Warner University to Tom Golisano Field House for a 5 p.m. tip.