AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Paine College women's basketball team lost a hard-fought 66-62 game to Johnson C. Smith Monday evening.

The Lady Lions are now 0-5 on the year.

Head coach Kisha Lucette's team was led by Jada Brooks' game-high 21 points. She drilled seven-of-17 from the floor and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe. Brooks also pulled down six rebounds, had five assists and a pair of steals.

Adewunmi Atiba, Kyra McCrary and Ashley Rubio had eight points apiece. McCrary led the way with seven boards while Atiba chipped in six rebounds. Jada Mullinex accounted for seven points in 15 minutes of work.

Trailing 39-23 at the break, Paine College played a solid second half. Down by 10, 45-35, McCrary made a lay-up. A jumper by Alexandria Caples and a lay-up by Brooks off a pass from Neani Stewart trimmed the deficit to 45-41 with 3:01 to go in the third stanza. However, the visitors managed to take a 52-43 lead into the fourth quarter.

Down 52-43, Atiba converted an old-fashioned three-point play. A lay-up by Rubio pulled the team within four with 8:54 to go. Trailing 53-48, Atiba took a pass from Brooks and found the bottom of the net. Moments later, Myah Beasley hit Atiba for another shot in the lane, making it 53-52. However, Lucette's team was not able to tie or take the lead in the waning minutes.  

For the game, Paine hit 21-of-60 from the floor (35 percent). The team snagged 39 rebounds and converted the offensive boards into 12 second-chance points. The home team also scored 28 points in the paint while tallying 18 points on 25 turnovers by the visitors.

The Lady Lions return to action Thursday when they host Livingstone at 6 p.m.