Box Score ELSAH, ILL. - This evening the Principia College women's basketball team hosted the Beavers of Blackburn College in their latest conference match-up of the season. Having beat the Beavers 64-51 the last time around, Principia was looking for the sweep. The Panthers were very out of sync to start the game, and despite playing pockets of solid team basketball were unable to really take control. A few crucial buckets from senior captain
Becca DeNicholas gave Principia a brief spark of momentum, but overall the Panthers were sloppy on offense and disjointed on defense. Despite their struggles however, the Panthers developed a double digit lead as the half was coming to a close, only to see Blackburn cut it to three, and headed into the locker with a 35-32 advantage.
Unfortunately, the second half was more of the same for the Lady Panthers, although a brief streak powered by the Panther freshmen (
Yulia Marquardt,
Megan Selby and Alex Weitman) kept Principia in the game. In the end, it came down to the performances of Panther forwards
Kara Johnson and
Karina Olsen which allowed Principia to come away with the victory. Johnson snagged 15 boards and recorded 11 points, as well dishing out 4 assists. But it was really Olsen who cemented the win for the Panthers as she turned in a stellar performance, scoring a career high 30 points (she was 14-18 from the field) and snagging a season high 20 rebounds. It was this, combined with a team focus in the final minutes of the game which allowed the Panthers to pull out the win over Blackburn by a final score of 69-59. The Panthers play next this coming weekend on Valentine's day in Louisville, KY against conferece leaders Spalding University. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm EST.
