DEARBORN, Mich. - - In a game it trailed just once, the Madonna women’s basketball team battled and fought for a 76-63 win at the University of Michigan Dearborn. Tabatha Wydryck (Riverview, Mich.) led all scorers with 22 points. Madonna is now 7-10 overall on the year and 2-1 in the WHAC. UMD falls to 8-8 overall and 0-3 in conference play.

MU shot 47 percent in the first half, staking themselves to as much as a 13-point lead with 9:20 left in the opening half on a Christie Carrico (Waterford, Mich.) triple to make it 21-8.

Dearborn cut into the Madonna lead, trimming it to just five with 33 ticks left on the clock, but a Rebecca Rufli (Fenton, Mich.) lay-up and two made free throws from Sheryl Jager (Wyandotte, Mich.) pushed the MU lead back to nine, making it 42-33 Madonna heading into the half time break.

Coming out of the intermission, UMD went on a 14-6 run over the first 5:20 of the half to take a one point lead at 49-48.  Madonna then went on a run of its own – an 18-4 run – to retake the lead for good. The Crusaders had the lead out to as many as 17 with 5:46 to go.

Cali Crawford (Rochester, Mich.) split a pair of free throws with 40 seconds left to give MU its final margin of victory at 76-63.

Crawford scored 16, while fellow senior Caryn Inman (Oxford, Mich.) added 15 for the victors. Kandace Perryman led UMD with 16 points.

The Crusaders return home for a 7:30 pm showdown on Wednesday with league leader Cornerstone inside the Activities Center. William O’Sullivan will call all the action starting with the pre-game show at 7:15 pm on the Crusader Radio Network.