The Misericordia University women's basketball team lost a defensive battle at Wilkes University, 49-41, Friday afternoon.
 
Nora Tracey led the Cougars with 10 points on five of nine shooting from the field and added three rebounds and a blocked shot.
 
Melina Santacroce contributed six points and six rebounds and Meaghan McCaffrey chipped in with six points and three rebounds while Gianna Delfino added seven rebounds and four steals.
 
Tracey opened up the scoring for the Cougars with a layup at the 8:27 mark of the first quarter, but Wilkes won the first quarter 12-11, while out-rebounding the Cougars 15 to 8 in the opening period.
 
The Colonels won the second period,18-8, and held the Cougars to 8-32 shooting from the field in the opening half to take a 30-19 lead into halftime.
 
Misericordia came out of the break strong and caused nine Wilkes turnovers to the win the third quarter, 11-3, and get within 33-30.
 
After trailing by as many as 14 points, the Cougars clawed their way back to take a 34-33 lead after a Santacroce layup at the 6:40 mark in the fourth quarter.
 
Wilkes responded with a 16-7 run over the last 6:40 of the game to hand the Cougars their third loss of the season.  The loss snapped MU's eight-game winning streak over the Colonels.
 
The Cougars (1-3) return to action when they travel to FDU-Florham, Thursday, March 4 at 7:00.