PURCHASE, NY - The Purchase College women's basketball team suffered defeat Saturday afternoon, falling to St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn, 85-46, in a Skyline Conference game. 

With the loss, the Panthers are now 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the Skyline. Meanwhile, the Bears of St. Joseph-Brooklyn improved to 7-4 and 5-1 respectively, and sit in second place in the conference standings. 

During the opening minutes, the guests jumped in front, 7-2, before Purchase embarked on a 9-2 scoring run, grabbing the lead, 11-9, with 5:21 remaining in the first quarter. 

At that point, it seemed like we were primed for a competitive rematch of the Skyline Conference First Round matchup from last season ... but St. Joseph's-Brooklyn had other ideas.

The Bears proceeded to outscore the Panthers, 16-0, over the next six minutes to extend their advantage to 25-11. The Panthers did respond with a pair of back-to-back three pointers to cut the deficit to 25-17, but that was as close as they got the rest of way. 

For the game, the guests shot 46.6 % from the field, while limiting Purchase to just 28.6%. The Bears also won the rebounding and turnover battles to lockup the victory. 

Individually, the Panthers were led by sophomore Amber Rodriguez (Queens, NY), who scored a career-high 18 points. She also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

Dejeana Peoples (JR/New York, NY) was the only other Panther in double figures, as she finished a season-high 10 points. 

For St. Joseph's-Brooklyn, Emma Kiley (FR/Whitestone, NY) recorded 22 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the win.

Up next for Purchase is more Skyline Conference action, as the team travels down the road to Manhattanville College on January 6th at 6 p.m. You can follow along right here.