Despite starting to find their shooting touch late in the game, the (RV) Raven Women's Basketball dropped their fifth game in their last six contests Saturday against (RV) William Penn University.

Benedictine (13-7, 7-7 Heart) lost 53-44 even though they out-scored Penn 28-26 in the second half. A 4-point first quarter and a 27-16 halftime deficit proved to be too much to overcome for the Ravens.

Down by 10 heading into the fourth quarter, the Ravens began to find an offensive rhythm. LaRanda Thomas opened the quarter with a 3-pointer, then Grace Brzozowski's bucket cut the Penn lead to 5 points.

WPU pushed its lead back up to 46-38, but a basket by Rachel Baumgartner and a 3-pointer by Sam Brennan cut the Penn lead to 3 points. The Ravens got no closer, though, losing by 9 points.

The Ravens shot 28.1 percent from the field in the game and 23.3 percent from deep. However, they were 33.3 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from 3-point land in the second half to pull themselves back into the game.

Thomas led the Ravens with 10 points and was the only Ravens player in double figures. Natalie Smaron had 12 rebounds as the Ravens pulled down nine more rebounds than the Statesmen.

The first quarter was a defensive struggle as neither team found much going on the offensive end. The Ravens were 2-of-12 in the opening quarter while Penn was 4-15, taking a 9-4 lead into the second quarter.

The offensive struggles continued into the second quarter as the Ravens fell behind double-digits heading into halftime. As Penn began to knock down some shots in the second quarter, and make their trips to the foul line count, the visitors grabbed a 27-16 lead at the break. The Statesmen converted all nine attempts from the free throw line in the first half.

Conversely, the Ravens were just 2-6 from the charity stripe and shot 22.2 percent from the field in the opening half. They connected on 2-18 from behind the 3-point line, as their shooting struggles from deep continued this month. The Ravens entered the game shooting 18.4 percent from deep in January.

The Ravens trimmed the WPU lead to 7 points at one point in the third quarter thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Brynn Maul and Rylee Neill. However, the Statesmen answered with a quick 5-0 run and took a 39-29 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Ravens made a push in the fourth quarter before ultimately dropping the game.

It'll be a quick turnaround as the Ravens take on (19) Grand View University at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27 in the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.