CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. – Despite cutting the margin to a single basket on multiple occasions in the second half, the Bryant University women's basketball team fell just short to Boston College, 90-79, Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum.

The Bulldogs (3-1) gave the Eagles (3-1) all they could handle thanks to a monster game from junior forward Breanna Rucker (Cininnati, Ohio) as Bryant's three-game win streak came to a close.

Rucker led all scorers with a career-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with 16 boards, including 10 on the offensive end. Senior point guard Jenniqua Bailey (Bloomfield, Conn.) was equally impressive with 21 points, including 9-of-13 shooting from the free throw line, a career-best tying eight assists, and seven rebounds.

Junior guard Tiersa Winder (Baltimore, Md.) was money from down town, finishing with 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting from deep in just 30 minutes of play, while freshman Ivory Bailey (Wyomissing, Pa.) finished the game with eight points.

Kelly Hughes paced Boston College with 23 points on 5-of-8 from deep while Katie Quandt, Karima Gabriel, Nicole Boudreau, and Ashley Kelsick all finished with double digits.

Despite a solid effort in the opening minutes by the Bulldogs, nothing seemed to phase the Eagles as they opened the game hitting 10 of their first 17 shots, highlighted by 10 points from Quant, to jump out to a 24-11 lead at the under-12 media break.

Bryant continued to hang around, led by the play of Rucker, cutting the deficit to eight points on two occasions, but the Eagles remained in the driver's seat, 35-20, with seven minutes left in the first half. The Bulldogs continued to fight, whittling down the BC lead to seven with just under five minutes to play in the period thanks to four-straight points from Jenniqua Bailey.

Continuing with the trend, the Eagles built their lead back to double digits, taking a 47-35 advantage into halftime. Through the first 20 minutes of play, Winder (11), Jenniqua Bailey (9), and Rucker (9) combined for 29 of Bryant's 35, while BC's balanced attack saw eight players find their way into the boxscore.

The Black and Gold opened the second half on a 6-0 run thanks to their full court pressure which seemed to give the hosts some issues early on. BC quickly adjusted and pushed the margin to 14 points but, to Bryant's credit, it refused to let the Eagles build any sustained momentum as a Melissa Corraro (Shelton, Conn.) 3-pointer brought the Bulldogs within eight, 59-51, with just over 13 minutes to play.

A Rucker and-one cut the deficit to just four points at the under-12 media timeout, the smallest margin since the 16:18 mark of the first half. The Bulldogs got within a bucket on three occasions but a trio of Hughes 3's quickly pushed BC to a 72-62 lead with just over eight minutes left on the clock.

The Black and Gold battled to the very last buzzer but dead eye shooting by the Eagles, including 9-of-22 from long range, was too much to overcome as BC held on for the 90-79 victory.

Looking ahead, Bryant won't have much time for rest as they head back to Rhode Island for a Tuesday evening tilt at Brown (7 p.m.) before breaking for a few days for the Thanksgiving holiday.