SUGAR GROVE, IL – The Principia Women's Basketball team traveled to Waubonsee Community College outside Chicago to play the Aurora University Spartans. The game was moved from Aurora campus because of graduation being hosted in their gym this weekend. This is the second neutral site game that the Panthers have played this season having defeated Southwestern University at Hendrix College in game two of the season.
At 5-2, the Panthers came into the contest having the program's best start to a season since 2006-07. Aurora came in on a winning streak at 8-2 with some impressive wins over SLIAC foes Greenville University and Eureka College, as well as future SLIAC member Mississippi University for Women. The Panthers had to play the game without junior
Alana Hinson in uniform due to injury, but she is anticipated to be back very soon.
Principia came out of the gates in the first quarter unlike a team that has had multiple days off from games. The Panthers were hitting their shots and getting huge stops against a very good opponent to go up 24-12 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was sort of the undoing of the first as the Spartans fought back to win the quarter 22-9 to up one heading into the half.
The lack of games during the last couple weeks during finals likely effected the legs of the Panthers as the Spartans started the third quarter on a 12-0 run. However, standout freshmen
Taylor Brown and
Ariana Williams combined with captain
Paige Fowler stepped up big to lead a comeback from the 13-point deficit. At the end of the third, Aurora's lead was back down to only one as the Panthers showed a lot of character without Alana, their vocal leader. In the fourth, the fatigue of a short bench began to show as Aurora extended to a 7-point lead. The Spartans would hang on for the rest of the game fighting back several Panther charges to end the contest with a 84-76 win.
Coach Ro: "We gave the team a little more time off this year to work on finals and it showed a little in our game conditioning. The women played so hard tonight and I am very proud of them. To not lose on the road until our fourth game is a big achievement. Us coaches need to do a little better job of managing player minutes so we can avoid running out of steam at the end, but Aurora is a very good team and our women showed they were up for the challenge."
Game Notes: Paige Fowler recorded her first double double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman
Ariana Williams led all scorers with 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 steals, while fellow freshman
Taylor Brown stacked the stat sheet with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 4 assists.
Next Game: The Panthers are on holiday break until New Year's Eve where they will take on Division 2 Missiouri S&T in an exhibition at 1:00 pm in Rolla, MO.
