FAIRMONT, West Virginia - With a brief warm up thawing out most of north central West Virginia, the Salem Tigers' women's basketball team made a quick excursion this afternoon for a match with historic rival Fairmont State. While Salem certainly made their mark in this game, a late Tiger push was not enough to overcome the Falcon advantage, and Salem fell 75-62. 

The Tigers started off hot from the field with Cassandra Smith and Taja Stephens both draining big opening baskets to give Salem an early lead. The Falcons battled right back, and the Tigers trailed 20-12 after the first. 

In the second, the Tigers shifted their focus to the inside play with the duo Liliani Krause and Carmen Vasquez leading the charge. They were able to eat away at the Falcon lead, but Fairmont State was able to maintain a 41-25 advantage going into the halftime break. 

The third quarter ended up being a tough one for the Tigers offensively. They are able to muster just 6 points in the period, and Fairmont State controlled the contest at 58-31 going into the final frame. 

In that final frame, the Tigers had to throw everything they had at Fairmont State in order to claw their way back into. They ended up doing just that, and found an offensive explosion of 31 points that made some of the Fairmont State faithful nervous down the stretch. However, Salem was unable to complete the dramatic comeback, and they ultimately fell 75-62.

Statistically, Salem got an impressive 20 point performance out of Liliani Krause. Just behind Krause was Cassandra Smith who finished with 18 points. Taja Stephens rounded out the Tigers scoring in double figures with 13 points of her own. 

After the loss, Salem will be anxious to kick off their first game of a 3 game homestand in their next time out. That contest will be against the Cardinals of Wheeling, and will take place on Wednesday, January 22nd at 5:30 PM.