CHICAGO – Lindzy Cox scored a team-high 18 points while Ashley Smoldt posted a double-double of 13 points and a career-high-tying 14 rebounds, but the Roosevelt women's basketball team ran out of steam late as visiting Holy Cross (Ind.) broke open a tight game in the fourth quarter to escape the Goodman Center with a 72-62 decision on Saturday.

JayShari Chears and Tanea White added nine points apiece for the Lakers (5-17, 4-10 CCAC), who caused 21 turnovers but were upended by 25 giveaways of their own.

Brooke Sterkowitz led all players with 23 points for the Saints (7-16, 6-9 CCAC), who also had double-digit efforts from Arielle Thatcher and Jayda Miller.

The game was tightly-contested throughout the first three quarters, and Roosevelt took a 45-44 advantage into the final stanza thanks to suffocating defense that forced the guests to shoot 26 percent or worse during each of the first three periods.

But Holy Cross opened the fourth on a 13-2 burst, taking a double-digit lead as the Saints started to heat up from the floor.

Cox did her part, scoring 14 second-half points and tallying nine in the fourth to keep the Lakers within striking distance.

Roosevelt got within six with 1:46 left after Chears swished a trey, but a minute later it was Sterkowitz connecting on a back-breaking triple of her own to make it a nine-point affair in the final minute, and Roosevelt could get no closer than seven in the waning moments.

Holy Cross rebounded from its slow shooting start with an 11-for-19 showing from the field in the fourth.

Smoldt registered her first double-double since her freshman season, matching her rookie year's high rebound mark with a game-high effort on the boards against the Saints.

Roosevelt hosts Calumet St. Joseph inside the Goodman Center this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.