ELSAH, ILL. -- Tonight the Principia College women's basketball team faced the Lady Highlanders of MacMurray College in their 2nd meeting of the season.  Having lost to MacMurray by 10 the first time around, Principia was looking to even the score.  Coming out with high intensity on defense, Principia quickly took a tentative lead, one that they would never relinquish.  The defense fueled their offense, with Prin shooting confidently from the field, including several nice buckets from captains Lindsay Sydness and Sarah Corbitt.  In fact, Prin outshot MacMurray from the field with a 43% field goal percentage as compared to MacMurray's 28%.  Solid rebounding from freshman forward Karina Olsen (she had 8 for the game) also helped Prin stay in it, and at halftime Principia went into the locker room up 26-19.

The 2nd half was more of the same, with solid defense and confident shooting from the Prin squad.  Corbitt did another nice job controlling the ball from the point guard position, breaking MacMurray's press and facilitating the offense.  However, MacMurray went on a little streak mid-way through the 2nd, cutting the lead to 3 with a score of 32-29.  The score stayed the same for at least 4 minutes before Prin broke the dry spell, and from then on Prin maintained an 8-10 point lead.  MacMurray went to the foul game in the last 2 minutes to try to close the gap, but strong free throw shooting from Corbitt (a perfect 6-6 from the line) and freshman guard Becca DeNicholas (she went 4 for 5) kept the Highlanders at bay.  

Overall, the victory was certainly a team effort.  With just 6 players getting minutes for Principia, each contribution was crucial.  Prin had three players in double figures, each taking an equal 13 shots.  Freshman forward Torie DeNicholas posted yet another solid offensive game with 13, to which she added 5 rebounds.  Sarah Corbitt posted a season-high 22 points, as well as 5 boards, a game high 5 assists, and 3 steals.  And captain Lindsay Sydness contributed 14 points, a game high 9 boards and yet another flurry of blocks with 6 on the game.

Principia plays next in Kentucky against the Golden Eagles of Spalding University.  The game is scheduled for Saturday, February 4th and will started at 1 pm EST.