Lourdes held a nine-point lead on the road at halftime on Saturday afternoon, but Madonna fought back to defend its home court and defeat the Gray Wolves 62-55 at the Activities Center in Livonia, Mich.
 
Lauren Tilden (Ravenna, Ohio/Ravenna H.S.) scored 17 points and Emily Orsini (Akron, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban H.S.) added 13 more, but the two ended the game as the only Lourdes players to finish the afternoon in double figures.
 
"We can't keep getting leads and letting them get away," head coach Karen McConnell said afterwards.
 
Lourdes led by two, 11-9, before scoring the next five points to build a seven-point advantage following a Tilden triple.  Later in the half, another Tilden three capped a 12-4 Gray Wolf run to push the advantage to 11, 28-17, at the 3:30 mark.  Lourdes maintained a nine to eleven point lead the rest of the half before taking a 32-23 lead into the locker room.
 
The Gray Wolves held the Crusaders to just 32.3% shooting from the floor in the opening 20 minutes and Madonna connected on just 1-of-11 from beyond the arc in the stanza.  Lourdes committed just five first half turnovers and shot 46.2% from the floor in building the halftime advantage.
 
"I was pleased in the first half," McConnell added.  "I thought we played pretty well, shared the ball offensively, and communicated on defense."
 
Madonna came out early in the second half with a 12-0 run to take the lead 37-34 and the Crusaders would never trail the rest of the way.  The Crusaders built the lead to as many as seven before the Gray Wolves made one late run.  Orsini scored on a lay-in at the four minute mark to pull Lourdes within two, 52-50, but the Gray Wolves would not get any closer. 
 
Lourdes shot just 30.3% from the floor over the final 20 minutes while Madonna made 17-of-21 free throws in the second half to help secure the victory.
 
"In the second half we did not come out and play well," McConnell said.  "We put them at the free throw line.  All of the little things we did well in the first half didn't carry over to the second."
 
Tilden handed out five assists and Orsini grabbed seven rebounds while Jessica Durr (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton H.S.) pulled down a team-high eight boards.
 
Michele Hayes led Madonna (7-4, 6-1 WHAC) with 13 points while Lindsey Herden added 12 more, making all 10 of her free throw attempts.  Rachel Melcher pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds for the Crusaders.
 
Lourdes (5-8, 1-6) will take a week off before returning to non-conference action next Saturday against Spring Arbor.  Tip-off time is set for 1 p.m. at the Spring Arbor Fieldhouse in Spring Arbor, Mich.