Box Score PALATINE, IL-  The Harper College women's basketball team traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Thursday to continue their N4C play against the MATC Stormers at Alverno College.  The Hawks gave MATC, who were fresh off a win against ranked Rock Valley, all they could handle en route to a 82-80 heartbreaking loss.

Things did not start out smoothly for the Hawks as they were down 14-4 early thanks to some hot shooting out of the gate by the Stormers.  However, in a game featuring two fast-paced offenses the Hawks went into the second quarter trailing 27-16.  The second quarter was a completely different story as the Hawks bounced back and took control, outscoring MATC 23-12 in the quarter. Sydney Heinrich's last second half court heave at the buzzer just missed and the teams went into the half tied at 39-39. 

The third quarter has seemed to give the Hawks trouble all year and the story was no different on Thursday.  MATC came out quickly and outscored Harper 24-8 in the quarter.  But the Hawks, who were only playing with 6 players all game, were not ready to give up.  Despite being down by 16 entering the fourth, the Hawks were clicking on both ends and tied the game on multiple occasions.  The shorthanded bench came back to bite the Hawks as Angelina Villasin was called for her fifth foul, three of which were questionable, and Harper was looking to play the last four-plus minutes with no subs.  Harper was not phased as they were able to stay close until Heinrich again picked up her (questionable) fifth foul with over two minutes to play.  Forced to finish the game with only four players, the Hawks would not give up.  After Carrie Kerlin hit back to back threes and some clutch free throws, the Hawks were tied 80-80 with 16 seconds to go.  MATC was able to score on the offensive end but Harper had over 5 seconds with the ball under their own hoop to get off a shot.  Kaela Drum was able to get a look in the post, but the ball rimmed out and MATC came down with the rebound.  As the Stormers went to turn upcourt, Kerlin drew what appeared to be a charge with just a few tenths of a second remaining but the refs inexplicably allowed the buzzer to sound, giving the Hawks a valiant effort but nothing to show for it with an 82-80 final score.

The loss brought the Hawks to 5-16 overall and 2-5 in N4C play.  Harper had four players finish in double figures with Ashley Shapiro leading all scorers with 30 points.  Kerlin's clutch threes and free throws gave her a career-high 13 points.  Shapiro also paced the Hawks with 14 rebounds, giving her five straight double-doubles, while also 3 blocks. Villasin led the way with 5 assists while she and Heinrich each had 2 steals.

Next up, the Hawks will start the second half of N4C play by traveling to Wilbur Wright on Saturday.  In their first meeting, Harper won 71-53 in a game where all five starters tallied double digit points, paced by Villasin's 27.  Tip off is scheduled for 1pm.