CARLINVILLE, ILL. -- Tonight the Principia College women's basketball team traveled to Carlinville, IL to face conference opponent Blackburn College in their final game of the season.  Blackburn served as a bookend for the Lady Panther's season, with Blackburn coming as their first conference opponent back in November, and now serving as Principia's final game of the 2011-2012 season.  Having won in their previous meeting, Principia was looking to sweep this season's series, but early game jitters and untimely turnovers kept Principa off-balance for most of the 1st half.  In fact, Principia found itself down 20-8 after the first few minutes.  But stellar shooting from junior captain Sarah Corbitt (she was 3-9 from 3-point range) got Prin back into the game, and after 20 minutes of battling in the 1st half, Principia went into the locker room down just one point.

The 2nd half started off well, but Prin once again found itself down to Blackburn (39-30) and had to battle back from the deficit.  Senior captain Lindsay Sydness was her typical dominant self in the paint on defense, helping keep Blackburn at bay, and slowly Principia climbed its way back to 41 all, before finally taking the lead, and never relinquishing it.  This was due in large part to Sydness's defense and continued scoring from Corbitt, who had a game high 23 points for the game.  She also had 6 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals.  Lindsay Sydness ended her collegiate career in fine form, with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 9 blocks, just one shy of recording her 5th career triple-double.  But it was the freshman class that truly made the difference for tonight's victory.  Breakout performances from both freshman forward Karina Olsen and freshman guard Becca DeNicholas allowed Principia to end their season with a win.  Olsen had a career high 8 points (she shot 60% from the field) and 12 rebounds, to which she also added two steals.  Becca was the true game changer, helping close the deal with the following plays.  With Principia up one with just a few minutes to go, Becca had a steal for a transition lay-up and a sweet assist to her sister Torie DeNicholas for yet another lay-up on the following play.  To finish it off, she stepped to the free throw line just moments latter and hit back-to-back free throws to put Principia up 7.  She had a career high 12 points, to which she added 3 assists and 2 steals.

Overall, the game represented a true team effort, which was a fitting end to the Lady Panther's season.  The women's team looks forward to the growth and success of its underclassmen, and will certainly miss all the contributions of its senior, Lindsay Sydness.  Thank you for a great season and see everyone next year!