GREENVILLE, ILL. - Tonight the Principia College women's basketball team traveled to face the Panthers of Greenville College in their first meeting of the season.  The game was physical from the get go, with both teams playing hard-nosed defense and forcing turnovers.  The physical game kept Principia off-rhythm offensively for a bit, allowing Greenville to slowly expand their lead to double digits.  The defense from sophomore forward Rachel Perea and senior captain Karina Olsen allowed the Panthers to hang around however, trading buckets with the Panthers in orange, but eventually going into the locker room at half time down 15-26.

In the 2nd half the physicality continued, but some crucial buckets from senior shooting guard McKinzie Wilgus (she hit a three and a pull-up jumper in transition to open the half for Principia ) allowed the Panthers to build some momentum, cutting into the Greenville lead and putting them on their heels.  Coming off the bench to give the Panthers a further offensive spark was freshman small forward Megan Selby who had 8 of her career-high 11 points in the 2nd half, including two threes that allowed the Panthers to tie the game around eleven minutes, and to take the lead at the six minute mark.  Both Panther squads were unable to take decisive control in the final minutes, and a dagger three from a Greenville guard put them up 53-50 with under a minute to go.  Perea was fouled on the following possession and she hit both of her free throws, but those turned out to be the last points the Panthers would score.  Principia had to foul to stop the clock, and Greenville hit both free throws to increase their lead to three. Using their final timeout, the Panthers ran a play for the three-ball from Perea, which was just shy of its mark.  Notable statistical contributions include Selby with her collegiate career high of 11 points (she was 3-4 from beyond the arc), and Perea who finished with a game-high 15 points and 10 boards.  She also recorded 4 steals.

The Panthers play next this coming Thursday, January 21st at Robert Morris University in Springfield.  Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 pm.