GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College women's basketball team lost a non-conference game against the Muskingum Fighting Muskies, 81-57 to begin the 2019-20 season on Saturday.  
 
Indea Phillips (Warren, Ohio/Warren G. Harding ) scored her first five points early in the game to lead the Tomcats to a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
In the first three and a half minutes of the second quarter Thiel went on a 9-5 run to jump out to a 21-14 lead, their largest lead of the afternoon.
 
The Fighting Muskies clawed their way back into the game with a 14-4 run of their own to take a 28-25 lead into the halftime break.
 
Phillips, Destiny Johnson (Baltimore, Md./Western) and Colleen Trainer (Latrobe, Pa./Mount Pleasant) combined for seven points early in the third quarter as the Tomcats gained a two-point lead with just over six minutes left to play. A 32-30 advantage was the last time Thiel would see a lead in the afternoon as Muskingum began to pull away with the game.
 
Phillips finished with a game-high 23 points, including shooting six-of-eight from the free-throw line. She hauled in eight rebounds and stole the ball away twice.
 
Johnson scored eight points and pulled down a team-best nine rebounds. Destiny Merriwether (Youngstown, Ohio/East ) added nine points and six rebounds in the loss.   
 
Four Fighting Muskies recorded double-digits in the road-win led by Casey Smith with 22 points.
 
Thiel will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Pitt-Greensburg. Tipoff from Beeghly Gymnasium is scheduled for 7 p.m.