FREDERICK, Md. - Despite a career-high 20 points from Verkia Smith (Waldorf, Md. / North Point)  the Hood College women's basketball dropped a Commonweatlh Conference game this afternoon to the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays 71-54.

Smith started off the game hot, scoring six of the Blazers' first eight points. Rachel Kessler (Middletown, Md. / Middletown) scored Hood's other two points in the early going with a bucket that gave the Blazers a 6-5 lead at 15:59. 

Down 21-11 with 10 minutes left on the clock the Bue and Grey used a combo of stout defense and hot shooting to get back within 21-17 with under eight minutes remaining. The Blue Jays responded with three straight baskets to build the lead back to 27-17 with 6:30 left. 

Taylor McGaughey (New Market, Md. / Oakdale) led a Hood 5-0 run for close to three minutes to help cut the lead to 31-24 with 2:16 left, but the Blazers could only capitalize on Kessler free throws for the rest of the half and entered the locker room trailing 39-26. 

Smith led Hood with 11 points and Rachel Wiley (Frederick, Md. / Tuscarora) had six rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Elizabethtown's Taylor Kreider led all scorers with 14 points and also grabbed six boards. 

Elizabethtown came out with a 6-0 run over the first 90 seconds of the half, but Kessler hit the next two baskets to cut the lead to 45-30. 

Smith completed a traditional 3-point play to get Hood with 48-36 with 15:17 on the clock, and Kessler hit a three with 14:26 remaining to make it a 50-39 game. 

Kessler finished with 13 points, tying a career-high, and five rebounds. Megan Turner (Cape May, N.J. / Lower Cape May Regional) had a career-high three rebounds and her first career block. Wiley grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and Eboni Staples (Laurel, Md. / Don Bosco Cristo Rey) snagged eight. Wiley also had a game-high six blocks, one shy of the school record. 

For the Blue Jays, Kreider finished with a double-double scoring 21 points and adding 14 rebounds. She also dished out four assists. Kendra Beittel scored 18 and added three assists. Taylor Alwine added 10 points, five boards, and four assists. 

Hood shot 15-of-23 from the charity stripe for 65 percent, the team's fourth highest perecentage this year. The defense held Elizabethtown to 1-of-11 shooting from behind the arc, a season low in makes and percentage (nine percent).  

Smith's 20 points marked the first time this season that a Blazer scored 20 or more points. 

Hood returns to action on January 6 to visit Randolph College. The game tips-off at 6 p.m.