The Middlebury women's basketball team was edged by a 62-54 score on the road at Trinity (9-15, 2-8) Friday night on Ogrodnik Court in Oosting Gymnasium. Despite the loss, the Panthers (11-12, 3-6) have assured themselves a spot in the upcoming NESCAC Tournament as the seventh or eighth seed. Middlebury will wrap-up its regular season at Amherst on Sunday afternoon.

Trinity used a 9-0 run to turn a 10-9 deficit into an 18-10 lead midway through the first half, as Mackenzie Griffin scored seven of the nine Bantam points, and did not trail the rest of the game. The Bantams took a double-digit lead at 29-18 on a jumper by Taylor Higgins inside the final minute of the first half, but Middlebury's Sarah Kaufman sank a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to send the teams into halftime with the home team ahead, 29-20. 

Griffin had nine points and Higgins had eight at the break, and Trinity held a 23-14 edge on the boards but committed 10 turnovers. Elizabeth Knox paced Middlebury with six first-half points, as the Bantams held the Panthers to nine field goals in 28 attempts (32.1 percent).

Middlebury fought back and pulled to within three at the 15:17 mark of the second stanza on a layup by Rachel Crews and cut it to a pair (44-42) near the halfway point on a drive by Kaufman. A jumper by Higgins and two free throws by Griffin made the score 48-44 in Trinity's favor with 4:43 on the clock, but Panther buckets by Alexis Coolidge and Knox tied the game at 48-48 less than a minute later. 

Trinity's Melanie Mills and Christina Raiti nailed back-to-back jumpers from the right corner, but a drive by Middlebury's Krystina Reynolds pulled the visitors back to within two points at 52-50 with less than two minutes remaining. 

Bantam Sheena Landy drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key, while Reynolds and Alexa Menard traded trips to the free throw line for a 57-52 Trinity lead with 51 seconds on the clock. Trinity held Middlebury without a point until the closing seconds, and Griffin connected on four more foul shots to finish 10-11 from the charity stripe in the game.

Griffin poured in a game-high 26 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and earned five steals to pace Trinity. Higgins joined Griffin in double figures for the Bantams with 12 points, while Mills notched six points, nine boards off the bench.

Knox led the Panther offense with 19 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, while Kaufman dished out a game-high six assists and added five boards. Trinity finished 15-17 from the foul line and outrebounded Middlebury 42-34. The teams combined to miss 19-22 three-point attempts.