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COLUMBUS- After a late push in the first half and a much stronger second half, the Capital University women's basketball team was unable to defeat its opponent, the Muskingum Fighting Muskies, losing 60-58 in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament first round game at the Capital Center.

Capital concludes its season with a 14-12 overall record with a 9-9 mark in OAC play.

"I'd like to thank our seniors for their hard work and dedication to our program," Capital coach Dixie Jeffers said. "Unfortunately we weren't able to send them off on a high note tonight.

"I thought we played hard and got ourselves a number of good looks at the basket, but just weren't able to knock them down. Give Muskingum credit – they played very hard and made some timely shots."

The leading scorer for the Crusaders was senior forward Stacy Timmerman (New Bremen, Ohio; above) with 19 points and four rebounds, and she was 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Junior guard Cookie Geroski (Fostoria, Ohio) also made an impact for the team, scoring 17 points along with seven rebounds and a 6-for-9 performance from the floor.

Throughout the first half, Capital struggled to close the seemingly growing gap Muskingum had created. Finally, with about three minutes left in the first half, thanks Timmerman, Geroski and sophomore center Monica Heckman (Pitsburg, Ohio), the Crusaders found themselves just two points shy of tying the game. The half ended, 30-28 Muskingum, with Capital shooting 43 percent and Muskingum shooting 34 percent.

Early on in the second half the Crusaders were able to keep their momentum and took the lead for the first time in the game. Freshman forward Kristen Thompson (Cincinnati, Ohio) strongly contributed in the second half scoring seven points (nine overall) and grabbing seven rebounds.

The remainder of the second half was a battle to the finish. The two teams fought hard to control the game. Capital held the lead for the latter half of the game until Muskingum fought back. In the final minutes of the game the Crusaders trailed until Timmerman tied the score with a 3-pointer to make it 57-57 with 53.8 to go in the game. As the clock counted down the Muskies took the lead once again but was answered with Crusader pride as they fought to win the game. Capital had a chance to take the lead with 16 seconds left but came up short. Muskingum made 1-of-2 free throws on the other end and the Crusaders were unable to get off a final shot. The game ended in a loss 60-58, even with Capital dominating points in the paint, scoring 18 compared to Muskingum's eight.

The Fighting Muskies took advantage of an 11-7 edge in second-chance points and benefitted from a 14-8 advantage in bench points.

The game proved to be the collegiate finale for both Timmerman and fellow senior Rebekah Will (Millbury, Ohio). The Crusaders are set to return a trio of starters in Geroski, forward Jamie Caton (Hilliard, Ohio) and guard Simonne Gage (Dayton, Ohio), as well as a number of other contributors, in 2013-14.