ELSAH, ILL. -- Tonight the Principia College women's basketball team faced the Golden Eagles of Spalding University in their 2nd match-up of the season.  With a solid game plan in hand, Principia felt ready to take it to the Eagles, but found themselves down quickly, struggling to score, and failing to get stops at the other end.  Down 15-2, the Panthers finally began to play their game, and started to fight back.  Led in large part by the offensive aggression of senior captain Sarah Corbitt, Principia started to chip away at the Spalding lead, getting to within 6 points.  Also aiding in the comeback was sophomore forward Jessica Bushong, who had 9 points in the first half (including hitting her only 3-point attempt of the game) and was the defensive anchor in the Panthers zone (she finished with 7 blocks for the night).  Sophomore forward Karina Olsen also decided to take charge on the boards (she ended with 11 boards total), and started holding the Eagles to one shot almost single-handedly.  Heading into the locker room down nine at half time, the Panthers had finally found some momentum.

The 2nd half started almost where the Panthers left off, helped in particular by sophomore guard Mckinzie Wilgus who finally began to look for her offensive opportunities, getting out in transition and shooting with confidence.  The Panther defense continued to give the Eagles trouble, and Corbitt continued to dominate on offense (she finished with 22 points to lead all scorers), taking the ball to the hoop to finish strong, and to look for the kick out to her teammates (she had 6 assists for the game).  Also looking to set her teammates up was sophomore captain Becca DeNicholas, who had 4 dimes on the night.  Within one point (36-37), Principia was playing great basketball.  But around the 8 minute mark, the Panthers hit a wall.  At 43-40 Spalding up three, Principia began to turn the ball over, and struggled to find some key stops.  Suddenly down 20, the Panthers continued to play hard, but the margin was too large to overcome.

The final score of 66-47 does no justice to the game the Panthers played tonight.  They are still looking to play a complete game, but tonight's game showed great improvement, and indicates great promise for the future.  Principia's next chance is on Saturday, January 26th at Lincoln Christian College. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm.