BRAMPTON, Ont. -- After trailing by as many as 14 points early in the fourth quarter, the Sheridan Bruins women's basketball team (0-6, 0-2 OCAA) rallied to pull within five one two occasions late but couldn't quite complete the comeback in a 66-61 loss to Redeemer. 

"We dug ourselves into a hole," head coach Willie Delas said. "Our defence and rebounding in the first half was a killer. We couldn't conquer it and in the second half we fought and did a lot better, but we had dug ourselves so deep that it was tough. We brought it back but missed a lot of easy shots after that."

The contest was close throughout the first quarter, with Redeemer hitting a three to close the frame and take a 16-13 lead into the second period. 

They would slowly build their advantage -- limiting the Double-Blue to just 11 points -- and were up 35-24 at the break. 

Sheridan cut the lead to four, trailing 39-35 midway through the third, before Redeemer closed on a 10-4 run to restore their double digit lead. 

After Redeemer took their biggest lead (14 points) with just over nine minutes remaining, the Lady Bruins slowly chipped away at the deficit and despite preventing Redeemer from connecting from the field over the final 3:25, they couldn't climb all the way back. 

Samantha Lovat posted her second straight double-double with 16 points and 12 boards and Liana Rose Villegas was also in double figures with 14 points while chipping in with six assists and five steals.

They will now travel to play Fanshawe on October 29 and Delas says a big focus will be on making improvements at the defensive end of the floor.

"We gave up a lot of dribble drive to the basket," he said. "So we've got to improve on that, we've got to get better that. But we've got a lot of young players, so this is an important stretch for them to get experience and then we'll start to get better from there."