AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Women's Basketball team dropped their third game in a row this week, falling to RV Northwestern 78-50. The Gyrenes were dominated off the glass, getting outrebounded 41-13.

Much like their game Tuesday against Goshen, the Gyrenes came out swinging in the first quarter and scored the first points of the game but couldn't hold onto the lead for long. Northwestern took a 6-4 lead just a little over three minutes into the game and never gave it back.

Ave Maria tied it at six, but then Northwestern went on a 14-0 run creating a huge gap. The Gyrenes never found a way to get the deficit back to single digits.

The second quarter was more of the same, with Northwestern outscoring the Gyrenes 19-12. Ave Maria hit five shots, two from downtown for their first threes of the game. At the break, the Red Raiders led 41-24.

The third quarter was the closest quarter with Ave Maria putting up 15 to Northwestern's 18. Casey Humphrey led the team with six points in the quarter, pushing her career total over 1000. She is the eighth Gyrene in program history to score over 1000 points in a career.

The fourth quarter was more reminiscent of the first half, with Northwestern outscoring Ave Maria 19-11.

With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 5-5 on the season and 3-4 in non-conference play.

Lavariah Armstead and Emily Rapacz tied for the team lead, each with 10 points.

As a team, the Gyrenes only recorded 13 rebounds. The Red Raiders equaled Ave Maria with 10 offensive boards to AMU's 10 defensive boards. Those 10 rebounds led to 13 second-chance points for NWC. The Gyrenes had three offensive rebounds in the game, but didn't score any points off them.

The Gyrenes are back in action Thursday, December 19, as they take on the #17 Dakota Wesleyan Tigers. The Tigers come in with a 9-3 record and a 75-56 win over Avila in their first game of the Gyrene Christmas Classic. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.