The University of Redlands women's basketball team battled it out with the visiting Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) on Saturday but fell short in its comeback efforts, resulting in a 54-63 non-conference loss in Currier Gym.

After the teams traded blows in the opening half, Gustavus held a slight edge at 30-29. Both squads performed admirably, with Redlands shooting at a 45.5% clip, while the Gusties countered at 44.4%.

Redlands' sophomore forward Brittany Oster (Agoura Hills, CA) sank a pair of free throws for her team's first scores of the second half, making it 31-30 for the Bulldogs.

However, this was the Maroon and Gray's last advantage of the game, as Gustavus roared out to a 10-point lead less than six minutes into the second half. Eli Benz led the charge with a big three-point play followed by another jumper, all within two possessions.

Although the Gusties capitalized on their 48.0% shooting, leading to a 15-point game with 7:35 remaining, the Bulldogs refused to go away and eventually cut their deficit to three on a senior forward Courtney Carroll (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) basket from long range with 1:52 left in the game. During this comeback effort, Redlands also gained two three-pointers from junior guard Ashley Sevilla (San Diego, CA).

However, Gustavus continued to make its shots down the stretch, particularly from the free-throw line, to turn back the Bulldogs in the final seconds.

Carroll led the Maroon and Gray with 13 points, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers. Sevilla dropped in three baskets from beyond the arc for nine points as the team's second-leading scorer. Freshman guard Kaity Lykins (Simi Valley, CA) provided six points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists for a well-balanced stat line.

Gustavus gained a game-high 20 points from Molly Geske, while Benz chipped in 14 points. Julia Dysthe came off the bench for 11 points as the Gusties other double-digit performer.

Redlands (0-3) looks forward to a three-game road stint when it heads to UC Santa Cruz for a tournament on Dec. 2-3, before returning to Southern California for a non-conference tilt at Chapman on Dec. 7.