MILWAUKEE, WI – After enjoying Friday night's win over Knox College for about an hour, the Principia Women's Basketball team started to get their heads ready for a 6-hour trip to Mount Mary University in Milwaukee to take on the Blue Angels on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers were anticipating a tough battle from Mount Mary, which had already gotten a huge win over Emmaus College earlier in the season.
Coach Ro on the back-to-back games: "Bad scheduling on my part. We had to move some items around for finals and academic needs of our students, and this is the decision that we made. Luckily as a coach, your players will pick up for your mistakes, which is what happened on Saturday."
The Panthers continued their strong play from Friday night by taking a commanding 28-15 lead to end the first quarter. In the second quarter, a bit of fatigue started to set in on the Panthers as they only managed to add an additional six point cushion to their lead at halftime at 46-27.
Part of the dip in energy was an unfortunate ankle injury suffered by captain
Alana Hinson. As she came out of the game, the Panthers' bench went from short to even shorter. In the second half, the younger players would now be asked to step up even more.
Deija Carter came in to provide a huge presence inside and had a major impact with 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Sophomores
Paige Fowler and
Carolina Rojas led the team in Alana's absence with their calming play and tough defense, each finishing with 9 points. The Panthers' two standout freshmen brought the energy and scoring punch as
Taylor Brown recorded her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while
Ariana Williams led all scorers 23 points and 7 rebounds.
After a
Mia Saucedo jumper near the end of the third quarter gave Principia their biggest lead of the game at 22, Mount Mary began to fight back and chip away at the Panthers' lead. Principia was able to hold off the surge, and the combined team effort propelled the Panthers to an 81-67 victory and their fifth win of the young season.
Hinson spoke afterwards on the importance of the win: "Saturday's victory was monumental for us as a team. It is hard enough to play with a lot of energy after a 6-hour trip, but adding in the amount of effort we put into the win on Friday, this was impressive and shows the grit and determination the women on this team have every day."
Game Notes: Brown's double-double is the third double-double for the Panthers this season. The win puts the Panthers at 5-2, and is the program's best start since the 2006-07 season. The total wins are the most for any Principia WBB team since 2014-15 when the team won five games total.
Up next: The Panthers will be off for finals until December 16th, when they will travel to Aurora University for a 5:30 pm matchup as their last contest before Christmas break.
