SALEM, WV - The Salem Tigers returned to their home court tonight after some extended time off on the road. Tonight's matchup against the Tigers (3-12) set to square off against the visiting Bobcats (8-7) of Frostburg State University. 

It was the Bobcats who struck first with a three-pointer on their first possession of the game, but Elena Pericic answered with a triple of her own to knot the match up at 3-3. The Tiger offense looked strong in the first quarter. All five starters worked well together and generated clean looks. Defensively the Tigers struggled to slow down the Bobcats Emilee Weakley who continued to hit threes over the hand of Tiger defenders. Salem found themselves down 22-14 at the end of the first quarter. 

During the second quarter, the tides turned for the Tigers. The offense struggled to produce efficient looks and the Tigers were stuck at 14 for the first five minutes of play. Defensively the Tigers still didn't have an answer for Frostburg. The Bobcats matched their offensive output from the first quarter and took a 44-22 lead into the half. 

Coming out of the half the Tigers made some adjustments to how they attacked Frostburg and they were proving to be effective. Defensively Salem had figured out how to slow down Frostburg. Emilee Weakley who had been a problem in the first half was much less effective in the second. At one point the Tigers reeled off a 12-0 run on Frostburg to close the gap within 16. With plenty of time left to play the Tigers looked poised to make a run at Frostburg's lead. The Tigers held strong for the remainder of the quarter and went into the fourth down 56-40.

If the Tigers wanted to get it done in the fourth they needed to get out on offense early, and unfortunately, they weren't able to do so. Salem's offense was able to generate a few buckets early, but so was Frostburg's which allowed the Bobcats to hold the lead. In the end, the shorthanded Tigers were unable to successfully mount the comeback and lost 74-53.

The Tigers will be back in action on Wednesday, January 24th at 5:30 when they tip off against West Liberty (6-10) at 5:30 in West Liberty, WV.

SALEM STAT LEADERS:

Points: Liliani Krause (15)

Assists: Carine Pinkney (5)

Rebounds: Elena Pericic (11)

Steals: Carine Pinkney (4)