SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team opened its season on Saturday, turning an early double-digit deficit into a tie ball game before falling, 85-76, to Shippensburg University during the Wolf's Bus Lines Classic in Heiges Field House. The Raiders also kicked off their season.

Senior Coreen Hennessy (Chatham, N.H./Fryeburg Academy) tallied a career-high 20 points in 22 minutes, shooting 7-for-11 while sinking all five free throw attempts and adding three assists. Junior Nicole Adach (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen) totaled 17 points and three blocks, and sophomore Cara Deroy (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) notched 15 points in a season opener for the second straight November, adding four assists and four steals off the bench. Classmate Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) had 10 points and seven caroms. The Purple Knights shot 51 percent from the field and 20-of-24 on freebies.

Senior Monae Baker (Manhattan, N.Y./Pitt-Johnstown) totaled 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Raiders, while junior Caitlin Bamberger (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood) had 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Classmate Shawna Wert (Sewell, N.J./Georgian Court) netted 16 points.

Shippensburg scored the first 11 points of the game before Saint Michael's charged back to eventually tie the contest. Still trailing 21-12, the visitors notched nine straight points over a 1:31 span, with Deroy contributing four points before senior Caitlin Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville) canned a three at 8:15 to knot the score. The hosts netted the next eight points, followed by a Purple Knight 7-0 counter. With the Raiders back up by nine, Adach beat the buzzer with a jumper to bring her team within 41-34 at halftime.

Saint Michael's continued to chip away in the second half, as Long's three-point play was followed by an Adach bucket that produced a 47-44 score at 17:13. Shippensburg pushed its lead out to as many as 13 points, though the visitors thrice reduced the deficit to six, twice on Hennessy jumpers. The second Hennessy bucket trimmed the Raider advantage to 69-63 with 6:19 left in the game, but the hosts scored the next seven points to lead by 13 with fewer than four minutes remaining, and Saint Michael's never again came closer than eight.

The Purple Knights complete play in Shippensburg tomorrow with an 11 a.m. contest against the University of Charleston (W.Va.), which qualified for the 2011 NCAA Tournament.