LAKE WALES, FLA — The Thomas University women's basketball team fell to the Royals from Warner University Thursday night 68-65 in a nail biting finish that saw the Night Hawks bounce back from 15 down before narrowing the gap all the way until the final buzzer. 

Unfortunately for Night Hawks, the red-hot Royals, that have now won five of their last eight, instantly jumped out to an early double-digit lead in the first quarter of the game. The second quarter was much of the same, as the Night Hawks did improve offensively, but the Royals still carried a double-digit lead into half-time, 25-16. 

The third quarter saw a spark in the Night Hawks' offense, as the team scored 19 points in the period. Despite this, the Royals had an answer for each TU bucket, winning the quarter 23-19 thanks to efficient shooting from the teams' leading-scorer, Channelle McDonald. McDonald scored five in the third, and ended the game with a team-best nineteen points and ten rebounds.

The second half saw another player also find an offensive rhythm, as TU Junior Xènia Cavallé provided her best performance thus far in the green-and-white, scoring a season and career-high 24 points. The transfer guard played the entire contest, but really found her stride in the second half scoring 18 points in the half, shooting 6-7 from the field, including a perfect 2-2 from the charity stripe. 

Overall, the Night Hawks outscored the Royals 49-43 in the second half, but fell just short in the closing moments as Cavallé's buzzer-beating three brought the game to within just three. 

Even after the loss to the Royals, the Night Hawks still hold the historical advantage 12-6, but, up next, TU will host Webber International University.  In that matchup, the roles are reversed, where the Warriors are looking to extend their historical advantage over the Night Hawks to 12-6. 

Thomas will have their chance to narrow the gap on Saturday, January 8th in the TU Gymnasium as tipoff for the SUN Conference matchup against Webber is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Fans can follow along with the contest by accessing the links below. 

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For up-to-date information on TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of TU women's basketball follow them via Twitter at @NightHawksWBKB.