The Misericordia University women's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking loss to Arcadia, 54-51, Wednesday night in the Anderson Center.

Lizzy Mitchell led the Cougars with 16 points and Ava Cirigliano added 12.

The Cougars led 47-36 with 7:20 to play, but the Knights went on a 16-2 run over the next 5:00 to take a 52-49 lead.

MU had two shots in the final 10 seconds, but both were off the mark.

In a back-and-forth first quarter, Chase Purdy scored on a driving layup to give MU a 10-7 lead midway through the period.

Cirigliano made a turn around jumper in the lane to give the Cougars a 14-12 lead at the end of one quarter.

After Arcadia opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run, the Cougars responded with 12 unanswered points to regain the lead, 26-20.

Mitchell drained a three-pointer from the right corner to ignite the rally and hit another three to put MU in front, 22-20.

Marisa Captoni finished a fastbreak and then stole the inbounds pass for another layup to put MU up, 30-22 with less than a minute to play in the first half.

The Cougars maintained their lead in an 8-7 third quarter.

In the fourth quarter Caitlin Landgraf scored on a scoop shot from the left block and added the and-one to give MU a 47-36 lead before the Knights rallied.