The Purple Raiders never trailed as they improved to 14-2 overall and got to within a game of first place at 7-2 in the OAC.

Senior guard Tessa Pohovey (Strasburg/Tuscarawas Valley) led Mount Union with 14 points, while fellow junior Katie Crider and sophomore Kori Wiedt each tallied 13 points.

Kristen Richardson scored a game-high 27 and Caitlin Elsass had 22 for the Crusaders, who saw a three-game win streak come to an end and are 10-5 overall and 7-1 in the OAC.

Mount Union's defense got them off to their hot start as they forced six Capital turnovers and seven different Purple Raiders scored including a layup Brittany Kilgore (Northfield/Nordonia) that made it 21-5 just 7:21 into the game.

The Raiders would lead by 16 points again later in the half as a Wiedt three-pointer with 3:46 left took the score to 31-15 before Capital put on a 10-2 run to get back to within eight, 33-25 at the half.

Mount Union would hit its first three shots of the second half to take the lead back to 14 points and the Crusaders got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

The Raiders open the second half of the conference schedule next Saturday (Jan. 23) at 3 pm against Heidelberg in Tiffin.