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ALBANY, N.Y. - The College of Saint Rose began the Whitney Edwards era with a 70-54 loss to visiting Mercyhurst this afternoon at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium.
 
Sophomore forward Naeva Rene and junior guard Becca Townes led the way for the Golden Knights (0-1). Townes topped the Black and Gold with 12 points, while Rene added 11 points, and team-highs of five rebounds and three assists.
 
"We were really focused on working on what we had been doing in practice: making sure that we played hard, making sure that we communicated and stayed together for 40 minutes. I think that they did a good job of that today," said Edwards following her head coaching debut.
 
The Lakers (8-4), who have been playing games since November, had four players reach twin figures in the victory. Junior guard Julia Buchman led all scorers with 14 points.
 
Coming of a 357-day span between contests, Saint Rose played Mercyhurst tough early, using an 9-0 run to take an 11-5 lead midway through the opening period. The visitors answered with a 24-8 run to head into the break ahead 32-24.
 
Mercyhurst commenced the third quarter on a 13-5 jaunt to increase its advantage. Saint Rose battled back to get within single digits on multiple occasions, including nine at 50-41 with 9:02 left, but senior forward Meghan Komendarek, the Lakers' leading scorer, powered in the next five points to help keep the Golden Knights at bay.
 
Looking ahead, the teams are scheduled to play again tomorrow at 1:00 pm. Fans can watch all the action live on gogoldenknights.tv on the NE10 NOW Network.

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Notes:  It was 357 days since Saint Rose last took the floor, a 64-54 setback to visiting Northeast-10 Conference rival American International on February 25, 2020...The Golden Knights have six returning players from last season's team...Seven newcomers joined the program this year...Edwards was named the head women's basketball coach in June 2020...The 2007 America East Defensive Player of the Year at the University of New Hampshire spent the last three years in as an assistant coach at Northeastern University in Boston. Sign up for our E-Newsletter for the latest news by clicking here, visit our team store by clicking here, and for information on the Golden Knights Club, click here. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.