BUCKHANNON – Mari Stewart and Tara Goldman (pictured) each scored a team-high 18 points but it wasn't enough to lead the West Virginia Wesleyan Lady Bobcats to a win in their 2016 debut as they dropped an 89-78 contest to the Urbana University Blue Knights in Mountain East Conference action today at Rockefeller Center.

Despite a three-week holiday lay-off, the Lady Bobcats didn't show any rust in the first quarter.

Stacy Remer scored on a lay-up, Adrian Cunningham went inside for two points and Remer scored another lay-up to give Wesleyan an early 6-0 lead.

Following an Urbana basket, Cunningham scored underneath and Mari Stewart made consecutive baskets to treat Wesleyan to a 12-2 advantage with 3:19 gone in the opening quarter.

Urbana closed out the first quarter on an 11-6 run but Wesleyan still owned an 18-13 lead after 10 minutes of action.

Urbana whittled the Wesleyan lead down to one at 21-20, but Stewart scored on a lay-up and Allie Browne scored from the paint to push Wesleyan's lead to five, at 25-20, with 3:45 left in the opening half.

Wesleyan maintained their lead at five, at 29-24, with 1:14 left, but Urbana closed the half on a 6-2 run.

The Lady Bobcats still led at the half by a 31-30 score.

Browne made a three-pointer to keep Wesleyan up by one, at 43-42, with 5:47 showing in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for the Lady 'Cats, it was the last lead they would hold.

Urbana went on an 11-2 run over the next 90 seconds to take a 53-45 lead.

Urbana pushed their lead to 65-56 after three quarters of play.

The Blue Knights extended their lead to 15, at 82-67, but Cunningham made a jumper, Stewart drained a shot in the paint, Cunningham scored inside and then downed two free throws to end an 8-0 run.

That brought Wesleyan to within seven, at 82-75, with 2:43 remaining.

Urbana though ended the game with a 7-3 run to earn their 11-point win.

Following Stewart and Goldman in the scoring column for the Lady 'Cats were Cunningham who tallied 15 points while Browne contributed 12.

One of the big scoring differences came from the three-point line as Urbana hit 52.4 percent making good on 11 of their 21 shots while Wesleyan was just two-for-14 for 14.3 percent.

The loss dropped Wesleyan to 1-7 overall and 0-5 in the MEC.

Urbana improved to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the MEC.

Wesleyan will return to action this Wednesday as they host Notre Dame in a conference contest at 5:30 p.m.

(Photo courtesy of Pete Galarneau Jr.)