REC CENTER — It was an uphill climb for the entire second half as the Peregrines tried to push past the Eagles. And when freshman Stephaine Beck (Mishawaka) drilled her second 3-pointer of the night to draw the Peregrines within three points, 73-70, with 90 seconds to play it gave the home team hopes of a come-from-behind finish.

But the Eagles closed the game draining all five of their free throw attempts and dropped in one field goal winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference battle, 80-74.

PUC trailed by as many as 13 in the second half, but continued to chip into the lead keeping within striking distance. But the Judson University Eagles (15-9 overall, 5-2 CCAC) would answer with a four-and-six point run re-establishing a more-than two possession advantage.

Senior LaKeisha Hurst (Dover, Del.) missed her 10th double-double of the season by one rebound. Hurst led all scorers with 24 points hitting 55 percent of her shots, while grabbing nine rebounds. She as earned three player-of-the-week nominations in the CCAC averaging 19.3 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.

Beck was the Peregrines second leading scorer totaling 17 points, and she had four rebounds and a pair of steals in the loss. Beck is the team’s fourth best scorer averaging 12.1 per game.

Point guard Meme Harris (Merrillville) popped in 16 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out four assists. Harris is averaging 12.4 points and 5.1 assists per game, and she leads the CCAC averaging 6.6 assists per game.

Junior Sara Keilman (Hammond Morton) grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds and added seven points. Keilman is averaging 6.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game off the bench.

The Peregrines (10-16) host the Olivet Nazarene University Tigers (14-10) in a divisional conference crossover Saturday at 1 p.m. in the opening game of homecoming.