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Wilmington College’s upset bid against league-leading Capital came up short Wednesday night as the Lady Quakers dropped a 59-52 decision to the Crusaders in Ohio Athletic Conference play.

Wilmington is now 3-5 in the OAC, 7-8 overall. Capital improves to 7-0 in the conference, 10-4 for the season.

“We played them hard. We had a couple lapses — one at the end of the first half and one in the middle of the second half — and our turnovers led to some easy baskets for Capital,” Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve said. “But we did a lot of things well. We rebounded the ball very well. We just didn’t make enough shots.”

The Lady Quakers battled Capital from the opening tip to the final buzzer, but a three-minute stretch to end the first half was the difference.

The Lady Quakers used the blend of perimeter shooting from Claire Brown (Batavia/Glen Este) and Allie Meranda (Georgetown), and the power game of Kortney Kin (Upper Sandusky/Riverdale) to take a 20-16 lead at 7:39 of the half.

Wilmington stayed ahead until Capital reeled off 10 unanswered points to take a 30-22 lead at the break.

“That spurt was the key to the game,” Scheve said. “They finished the half strong, and we spent the rest of the game trying to fight back.”

Capital extended its advantage to 14 points on three occasions in the second half, but the Lady Quakers continued to chip away. When Brown scored in the paint at 2:35, Wilmington was within seven, 53-46.

Wilmington cut the deficit to 57-52 in the closing seconds, but couldn’t convert on a pair of lane shots that would have made it a one-possession game.

Capital iced the game with a pair of Abbey Winland free throws.

“We got after them, and we are going to keep getting after people, and eventually we will turn it around,” Scheve said.

Kin led all scorers with 23 points to go with eight rebounds.

Waters (Cincinnati/Purcell Marian) scored nine points and pulled down game-high nine rebounds. Meranda scored seven points and Brown added five.

“Kortney was very solid inside,” Scheve said. “Olivia Waters is playing really well. Ki Godfrey gave us a nice effort off the bench, and Emily Zimmerman gave us some nice minutes off the bench.”

Wilmington out-rebounded Capital, 49-34.

The Lady Quakers will host Marietta 3 p.m. Saturday at Fred Raizk Arena.