Edinboro, Pa. – The Edinboro women's basketball team came out on the wrong end of a defensive struggle falling 46-42 to visiting Kutztown Sunday afternoon.

The Scots led 39-36 after a Hayley Sims jumper with 5:30 to play. Rylee Derr tied the game with a 3-pointer at 4:40 and Derr gave Kutztown the lead with a basket at the 2:36 mark.

Bella Burrelli trimmed the lead with a free throw at the 1:26 mark, but Casey Remolde pushed the lead to three, 43-40 at the 1:03 mark. Rana Elhusseini trimmed it back to 43-42 with a pair of free throws with 48 seconds to play. Naia Pulliam scored the last three points of the game to set the final.

Leading 18-17 at the break, Sims pushed the Scots lead to 20-17 with the first bucket of the second half. The teams traded baskets with Gillian Fisher giving Edinboro a 26-24 advantage with a triple at the 6:30 mark of the third. The Golden Bears scored the next six points to build a 30-26 lead.

Edinboro finished the quarter on a 5-1 spurt capped by an old-school 3-point play by Elhusseini with 56 seconds left in the third.

Fisher came out of the blocks fast making a pair of 3-pointers helping the Scots to an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Edinboro extended the lead to 12-7, but triples from Remold and Derr trimmed the advantage to 12-11. Burrelli netted a late basket to make it 14-11 after one. The teams scored a combined 10 points with Kutztown holding a 6-4 advantage in the quarter.

Fisher paced the Edinboro offense with 15 points to go with eight rebounds. Burrelli posted a game-high 12 rebounds to go with seven points. Elhusseini added nine points and two assists.

Derr and Remolde each scored 11 points and nine rebounds for the Golden Bears.

Edinboro is back in action on Jan. 5 when they travel to Clarion for a 5:30 p.m. matchup with the Golden Eagles.