Box Score Elsah, Ill. - This afternoon the Principia College women's basketball team faced the Panthers of Greenville College in their first meeting of the season. The 1st half was neck and neck, with neither team gaining a clear advantage. The Lady Panthers played solid team defense, holding Greenville to just 9 field goals on 30 attempts, as well as crashing the boards with 23 1st half rebounds to Greenville's 13. The rebounding effort was led in large part by junior foward
Summer Switzer, who snatched 7 of her 8 total rebounds in the 1st half. Offensively the Panthers showed a great amount of improvement, with equally spaced contribution and a much higher rate of conversion. This offensive rhythm was aided by junior captain
Becca DeNicholas who had a season high 4 assists in the 1st half. With just under 2 minutes to go, the Panthers took the lead by two, going into the locker room at half time up 24-22.
The 2nd half started much the same as the first, with Principia scoring on their first offensive possession to slightly increase their lead. In fact, the score was close until the final minutes but the Panthers failed to convert on some key possessions and had some crucial defensive lapses that allowed Greenville to regain and maintain the lead. Despite shooting much better for the 2nd half (the Panthers shot a season high 45.5% from the field), Principia found themselves down in the closing minutes, and had to resort to the foul game in an attempt to stop the clock. Greenville hit their free throws (Greenville made 12 of their 16 free throw attempts compared to just two total attempts by the Panthers), and ultimately came away with a 60-46 victory over Principia.
The final score does little to demonstrate the solid play the Panthers demonstrated for close to 40 minutes. Several statistical contribution are worth mentioning, including junior captain
Karina Olsen with a double digit rebounding performance (10).
Becca DeNIcholas finished with a career high 5 assists, and junior
Summer Switzer had 8 points and 8 boards. Freshman forward
Rachel Perea ended tied for a game high score of 11 points, to which she added 7 boards and 5 steals.
Look for the Panthers to continue their improvement this coming Tuesday, January 28th against the Griffins of Fontbonne University. The game is home and scheduled for a 6:00 pm tipoff.
