SOUTH EUCLID, OHIO - This afternoon marked the final regular season game for the Tigers as they traveled out to Ohio for their second matchup against the Notre Dame College Falcons (9-18). The first meeting between the two squads ended with a Tiger loss 58-65 in Salem.

It was tough sledding on both ends for the Tigers from the jump. The Falcons set the tone early with a triple for their first points of the game and the Tiger offense could not respond. Notre Dame's offense continued to be a problem for a Tiger squad that seemed to be running on fumes this late into the year. Salem was finally able to come up with some offense when Emerson Wells got her mid-range jumper to fall off a dish from Carine Pinkney. Pinkney struck again on the following possession, but this time it was her doing the scoring giving the Tigers a little bit of momentum and making the score 4-8 in Notre Dame's favor with five minutes remaining in the quarter. Notre Dame remained scorching hot from three while Salem did not have their shots falling this afternoon. After one-quarter of play, the Tigers found themselves down 7-22.

Salem was able to get some early offense in the second quarter from Cassandra Smith who went on her own 5-0 run, but Salem's defense was still unable to string together stops and the Falcon lead continued to grow. After Smith's short outburst of scoring the Tigers went silent once again, going scoreless for the next two minutes when Notre Dame sent Elena Pericic to the free-throw line. Pericic converted both attempts and those were the last points for Salem in the first half. While the Tiger offense was struggling the Falcon offense was thriving on their home court. Pushing the pace and hunting threes led to run after run for them and because of that, they found themselves up at the half 37-14.

Salem seriously turned the page in the second half. After a lackluster effort over the first two quarters, Salem seemed like a totally different team in the third. Carine Pinkney seemingly took it upon herself to get the Tiger engine rolling. She was responsible for seven of Salem's first nine points in the second half all within a two-minute span. Another positive for the Tigers was they were able to start getting stops in spurts which prevented the Falcons from running away with it. The downside was Salem could not consistently do this on the defensive end which effectively kept the deficit where it was at the half. Entering the fourth quarter the Tigers were down 38-62.

After a solid third quarter, the Tiger offense seemed to come back to Earth. Salem got their first points of the fourth when Elena Pericic drew contact sending her to the charity stripe with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Pericic once again converted both attempts. At this point, Notre Dame had effectively put the game on ice, but they showed no signs of slowing down. The Falcon offense continued to hunt quality looks from open shooters and continued to convert on those looks as well. In the end, the Tigers could not mount the comeback and lost their final game of the season 53-85.

SALEM STAT LEADERS

Points: Carine Pinkney (21)

Rebounds: Carine Pinkney (7)

Assists: Carine Pinkney (4)

Steals: Elena Pericic (2)