PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia University women's basketball team suffered its first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) loss of the season as the Rams were defeated by host Holy Family 72-70 Thursday night in the Campus Center.

Philadelphia—who entered tonight's game sixth in the NCAA Division II East Region Rankings—is now 18-6 overall and 16-1 against the CACC. The loss also ends the Rams' winning streak at 10, the longest since the 2005-06 season.

Holy Family, a winner in its last four outings, improves to 16-8 overall and 14-3 in conference play.

Junior guard Monica Schacker (Doylestown, Pa./Germantown Academy) was Philadelphia's leading scorer with 15 points. Junior guard Najah Jacobs (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) filled up the box score with 13 points, six rebounds, and five assists.

Sophomore forwards Tori Arnao (Newtown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and Mary Newell (Lansdale, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie) nearly came up with a double-double. Arnao finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Newell contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.

Mary Ellen McCollum had a career night for Holy Family. McCollum scored a career-high 28 points, including a 3-pointer with 5.3 remaining to put the Tigers ahead 71-70, and a career-best 12 rebounds.

Philadelphia owned a 61-53 advantage when senior guard Megan Finn (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) went 1-for-2 at the free throw line at the 4:09 mark of the second half.

McCollum single-handedly brought the Tigers back, outscoring the Rams 10-2 over a 1:55 stretch to tie the game at 63 on a three-point play.

After Maggie Serratelli made a layup to give Holy Family its first lead of the second half (65-64), Jacobs buried a 3-pointer that put Philadelphia back in front (67-65) with 1:06 on the clock.

Holding on to a one-point lead, Finn connected on one of her two free throw attempts to put Philadelphia up 70-68 with 14 seconds left.

After McCollum put the Tigers up 71-70, McCollum would steal the inbound pass, get fouled, and hit the first of two free throws to put Holy Family up 72-70. Sophomore guard Bria Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Prep Charter) grabbed the rebound on the missed free throw giving Philadelphia the final shot. Young's game-winning 3-point attempt as time expired missed the mark and the Rams' winning streak came to an end.

Philadelphia shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field and 61.3 percent (19-of-31) from the free throw line. Holy Family connected on 37.1 percent (23-of-62) of its shots from the floor and 77.8 percent (21-of-27) of its free throws. The Rams outrebounded the Tigers 43-37.

Philadelphia returns to the Gallagher Center to host Concordia (N.Y.) in its final regular season home game on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. Prior to tipoff, the Rams will honor seniors Samantha Morris (Wenonah, N.J./Deptford), Courtney Overholt (Centreville, Va./Flint Hill), Jaclyn Panichi (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), and Finn.