HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. – The No. 18 ranked Rhodes women's basketball team dropped a close road contest to Rust College, 59-54 on Tuesday night.
 
The loss is the Lynx second of the season, moving Rhodes to 9-2 while the Bearcats advance to 4-11 on the year.
 
The Lynx were evenly matched, and Rust went tick for tack in the opening four minutes, with a score of 4-4. Rhodes worked to distance its self, going on an 8-0 run with the help of buckets from Symone Daniels, Sarah Johnson, Dy'nelle Todman and Blair Smith to make the Lynx lead 12-4 with 14:01 to play. Rust closed the first half with a streak of their own, and closed the gap to a score of 26-23 at the half.
 
Rhodes' Daniels narrowly missed a double-double in the first half with her 12 points and eight rebounds. Johnson posted six points for the Lynx, added to three assists. Rust's efforts were led by Kala Williams who netted eight first half points and Cartisha Jones who added five.
 
The Lynx shot 36.7 percent from the field in the first half, with two buckets from beyond the arc. Rust put up 44.0 percent shooting, with just 14.3 percent from beyond the arc.
 
The Bearcats opened the second half with the first bucket, a two pointer from Jessica Brown to pull within one point in the first ten seconds, 26-25. A pair of Rhodes baskets from Todman and Bailey Kramer gave the Lynx a five point edge with 16:27 remaining in the half, 30-25. But a relentless Rust would not give in and charged back within two at the 12:45 mark, 34-32. The Lynx couldn't hold off the Bearcats, and at the 10:33 mark Rust took their first lead of the contest off a Jawanda Buckely basket, making the count 38-37.
 
The Lynx spent the remainder of the contest chasing the Bearcats, but couldn't overcome the difference. After a Blair Smith three pulled Rhodes within one at the 5:34 mark, 46-45, Rust answered with a Brown bucket. Rust closed out the contest with three made free throws to ice the contest, making the final score 59-54.
 
Rhodes shot 34.5 percent from the field in the outing, and shot 6-29 from beyond the three point arc. A real Achilles heel for the Lynx was their free throw shooting, where they went 10-28 from the charity stripe. Rust put up 46.9 percent from the field and made 3-10 from three point land.
 
Williams netted 12 points for Rust, leading the squad in scoring, followed by 11 points from Buckley and 10 off the hands of Jones.
 
Rhodes' Daniels posted her third double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Johnson was the Lynx next highest scorer with her 12 points. She added six rebounds to her total, with six steals and five assists. Smith scored eight points paired with three assists, and Natalie Goodrum added seven points.
 
The Lynx will open their conference season this weekend as they host Berry College on Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. followed by a match up with Oglethorpe University on Jan. 12 at 1 p.m.