Box Score ELSAH, ILL. -- Tonight the Principia College women's basketball team faced the Blackburn College Beavers in their first SLIAC game of the season. Off to a slow start offensively, Principia played several minutes with just a few buckets, but took the lead early and never relinquished it. Solid shooting by junior captain
Sarah Corbitt and senior captain
Lindsay Sydness kept Prin's head above water, and slowly the lead grew to double digits. Freshman guard Mac Wilgus also aided in keeping the lead alive with intense defense and heads-up play on offense. And so, despite turnovers and a failure to crash the boards, Prin went into the locker room at half up eight, with a score of 21-29.
The 2nd half was more of the same, with Blackburn fighting back offensively, and Principia barely holding onto the lead. Sydness picked up her 4th foul with more than 18 minutes left to the half, allowing freshmen
Torie DeNicholas and
Karina Olsen to step up in the paint to play some clutch defense. Olsen also demonstrated a composure on offense which was heartening to see from a freshman. Prin went back up by double-digits thanks in part to Corbitt's outside shooting (she ended as the leading scorer with 18 points) but Blackburn clapped back in the final minutes, resorting to the foul game and forcing Principia to beat them from the charity stripe. With less than 15 seconds left, junior point guard Dani Carney stepped to the line and hit 1 for 2, giving Principia the 4-point cushion necessary to seal the close victory. With a final score of 46-50, Principia pulled out their first conference victory, going 1-0 so far this season. Sydness finished with 12 points, 7 boards and 6 blocks. Corbitt added 7 boards and a game high 6 assists to her 18 points.
Torie DeNicholas and senior forward
Shannon Briggs both contributed 6 boards. DeNicholas also had 5 assists.
Principia plays next on Saturday, December 3rd at Eureka College for their 2nd conference game. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
