ELSAH, IL - The Principia Women's Basketball team continued their home stand in conference play by hosting the always powerful Greenville University Panthers. The battle of the Panthers didn't disappoint as Principia and Greenville both took turns going on runs. This was a complete turnaround for Principia from the first conference game of the year which resulted in a 34 point loss to Greenville. The short bench situation hasn't changed much for Principia as three key players were not available today.
Aaliyah Scott said, "Today's game may have been just another conference game for Greenville, but for us, it was more than that. We were determined to fight through fatigue and leave everything on the floor tonight for our teammate Alana, who unfortunately couldn't be with us tonight as she is dealing with a family tragedy. Alana provides energy for our team, and although she wasn't with us today, she helped light a fire under us to spur us into action from a distance."
The first quarter saw Principia take its biggest lead of the game at 5 points. Greenville came back at the end of the 1st with a last second three to tie the game at 16 each. The second quarter was a back and forth scoring affair but the Greenville Panthers used their superior bench play to go into the break up 31-27.
The third quarter was a draw as both sets of Panthers tried to get the advantage over the other to no avail. Principia had their best game from the three, going 9 for 20, which helped compliment their aggressive attack the rim style. The fourth quarter was a tale of two halves as the minutes started to build up on the legs of the Principia women, and in the first five minutes of the fourth they fell behind by 10 points. However, a timely timeout got the Principia Panthers the breather they needed, and they battled back with great overall effort to end the game with their season high in points scored with 72. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough to defeat Greenville as they fell just short of their first conference win, losing 77-72.
The Principia Panthers were led by freshman Tyliah Williams who scored a game-leading 25 points, adding 9 rebounds. Williams was followed by freshman Paige Fowler, who had a nice game with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Other notable performances include sophomore Aaliyah Scott with 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, freshman Carolina Rojas with 12 points and 3 assists, and freshman Raina Bryant with 6 points and 3 assists. Madi Leslie and Lauren Arens provided excellent minutes in the second half with Arens playing mistake-free at the guard position and Leslie scoring 5 points and 1 block.
Tyliah Williams summed up the effort of the Principia Panthers after the game: "We have continued to improve as a team. We played a tough older team and we hung in there with them. We will build off of this and keep working. We didn't make it easy for Greenville, and we showed them that Principia is a team that should be respected."
Up Next: Principia will continue its home stand with three home games in the coming week, beginning Tuesday at 4:00 pm vs Westminster College. Tuesday night will be a blackout theme night, so come to the gym wearing black and be loud!
