HILO, Hawaii – The St. Edward's Hilltoppers women's basketball team committed 18 turnovers, surrendering 21 points off turnovers, in a 68-50 loss to the No. 14-ranked University of Tampa to close out its participation in the Big Island Classic. 

MORGAN GARY led the Hilltoppers with 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, and Jayda Ruffus-Milner added 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting as the two St. Edward's players in double figures. 

The Hilltoppers opened strong, outscoring Tampa 16-10 in the first quarter getting five points from Gary and five from reserve BELLA MUSCOREIL while limiting Tampa to 4-for-15 shooting. 

St. Edward's committed seven turnovers in the second quarter, surrendering eight points off turnovers while shooting just 3-for-12. The Hilltoppers compounded their problems by allowing Tampa to shoot 5-for-11 from the field and 10 free-throw attempts, of which Tampa hit seven to outscore St. Edward's 17-7 in the quarter to lead 27-23 at the half. 

Tampa's Sydney Kin and Mya Guisto pressed the advantage in the third quarter, scoring seven points each in a 21-14 Tampa quarter. Giusto kept pouring it on in the fourth, hitting all four of her shots to lead Tampa to a 20-13 quarter. 

The Hilltoppers shot 19-for-57 (33.3 percent) from the field with 18 turnovers, including 10 live-ball turnovers. Tampa shot 23-for-51 (45.1 percent) and 18-for-21 from the free-throw line.

St. Edward's drops to 2-4 heading into conference play. The Hilltoppers will return home to host Eastern New Mexico on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 5:30 p.m.