The Muhlenberg women's basketball team went toe-to-toe with a tough Salisbury team in a 65-59 loss.

The Sea Gulls are 7-2, with their only losses coming to two nationally ranked teams, and received three votes in the latest D3hoops.com poll. The Mules (3-4) cut an 11-point deficit to one in the second half but could not draw even.

Seniors Mikaela McGarvey and Margaux Eripret led Muhlenberg with 17 and 18 points, respectively.

The first of three straight non-conference games for Muhlenberg was tied 17-all at the end of the first quarter. Salisbury took a 30-25 lead into the locker room and increased the margin to 47-36 with less than two minutes to play in the third quarter.

A three-pointer by sophomore Abigail Scheidel gave the Mules some momentum going into the fourth quarter, which began with another three, this one by senior Tara Szawaluk. Junior Sara Peretti made a layup with 5:26 left to make it 52-51, and moments later Eripret (pictured above) answered a Salisbury basket with one of her own. 

But thart was as close as Muhlenberg would get. The Sea Gulls scored the next four points to gain some breathing room at 58-53 and held off the Mules the rest of the way.

Peretti finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds. The Mules forced 18 turnovers against a team that came in ranked in the top 10 in Division III in assist-to-turnover ratio.