EUREKA, ILL. -- On this cold morning, the Principia Women's Basketball Team traveled all the way to Eureka College to face the Red Devils of Eureka. Entering today's contest, Eureka was 3rd in the SLIAC and fighting for home court advantage in the conference tournament. The Panthers on the other hand were last place in SLIAC and could easily coast to the end of the regular season. However, the Panthers played some inspired basketball, only to succumb at the end of the game, The final score of 73-58 does not represent the scare that they put into Eureka nor how well the Panthers played for parts of the game.

The energetic crowd actually worked for the Panthers early in the game, as they took it to Eureka early, going up 8-3. Eureka then switched to a zone defense, and the Panthers went cold. Not only that, but the Panthers lost focus on defense and allowed Eureka to hit wide open three after wide open three. With about six minutes left in the half, the Panthers found themselves down 17. Finally, Principia began to settle down and make their lay-ups and open shots. The Panthers gained some momentum going into the half by cutting the lead to 11, 33-22.

After a stalemate of around 10 minutes, the Panthers finally began to cut into the lead. With 6:07 left, the Panthers cut the lead to 3 points. On Eureka's next possession, they hit a 3-pointer to go up 6. On the very next possession, Rachel Perea hit a deep 3-pointer to cut the lead back to 3 with 5:07 left. This would be as close as Principia got, as they finally ran out of steam.

Outside of the 10 minute stretch in the first half where the Panthers were seemingly incapable of scoring or playing any defense and the final 5 minutes, the Panthers played the most inspired basketball we have seen all year. This is evident by the fact that they had a whopping 21 offensive rebounds on the game. Their tenacity gave them multiple possessions on nearly every miss. Although they could not finish them all, this bodes well for the future. 

Some exceptional performances were turned in by Spencer Randolph, Karina Olsen, and Rachel Perea. For the second time in three games, Randolph had an unbelievable 10 assists. She is continually growing as a point guard, and is only a freshman. Karina Olsen once again had a great game in the paint with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Olsen, only a junior, is one of the most improved players in all of the nation. She has grown by leaps and bounds as a player and is a force to be reckoned with down low. Rachel Perea had another great game with 23 points and 10 rebounds. After 20 games of figuring out how to play college basketball, Perea is finally tapping into her potential. She is only a freshman and if she can learn to play with more consistency, she will certainly be one of the top scorers in SLIAC. 

The future is bright for this team, but they know that this future starts now. With only three games left, the Panthers are eager to keep getting better in order to reach their limitless potential. Our next game is Feb. 18th at Fontbonne University in St. Louis. We hope to see our fans show their support at this game.