(New York, NY) - Junior Lauren Kempin (Fairlawn, NJ/Frisch) enjoyed her second consecutive double-double and third of the 2008-09 season with 10 points and 11 rebounds to go with five blocked shots, four steals, and three assists, and sophomore Avigail Varnai (Skokie, IL/ICJA) had a team-high 14 points and added seven rebounds and three assists, but the Yeshiva University Women's Basketball team lost its eighth straight game despite a tremendous effort, 78-57 to Skyline Conference powerhouse Farmingdale State on Thursday night at Yeshiva University. With the loss, YU is now 1-9 overall and 0-8 in Skyline Conference play.

A year after losing to Farmingdale State twice by an average of 48 points per game, Yeshiva put up quite the battle on Thursday night, Yeshiva quickly fell behind by nine points, but when senior Tova Laufer (New York, NY/Ramaz) hit a three-pointer with 12:25 remaining in the first half, the Maccabees trailed 17-14. Farmingdale then used a 12-0 run to get some distance with the Maccabees, but the tone was set for the night that YU was ready for a battle. Yeshiva trailed 37-22 at halftime.

The second half saw Farmingdale try to push the lead to 30, but the Maccabees fought back continuously to keep the score close. Yeshiva played terrific defense throughout the game - forcing 28 Farmingdale turnovers, and going toe-to-toe with the larger, stronger Rams on the boards as Yeshiva was outrebounded 47-40, and outscored 41-35 during the second half of play.

Kempin was tremendous, breaking double digits for the third straight game and third time during the last four games. She has averaged 13 points and more than nine rebounds per game during the stretch. Also for YU, Varnai was excellent on both ends of the court, and senior Elana Kastzl (Miami, FL/WUHS) added 10 points. Laufer also had a terrific all-around game, scoring five points while adding six rebounds, three assists, and three steals, and freshman Daniella Barber (Seattle, WA/Northwest Yeshiva) added nine points (on 3 for 5 shooting).

Yeshiva was outshot 45%-32% but the numbers were far closer than a year ago.

The Maccabees return to action one final time during 2008 as YU host St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Baruch College.