SEWANEE, TN – The Principia Women's Basketball team traveled six hours down to Sewanee: University of the South to play in a weekend shootout with two teams from the south. The Panthers were excited for the challenge of facing two schools they've never faced before as they looked to earn their first win of the season. In the first game on Friday night, Principia's opponent was Covenant College from Lookout, Georgia.
Covenant brought a very methodical approach with a ton of set plays and a team full of veteran shooters combined with great overall size. The Panthers have been trying to find themselves on both ends of the floor in the early season with a new team of 16 strong. Unfortunately, the first half was not what the Panthers were looking for as they struggled to get going offensively and fell behind by 17 points by halftime at 22-39.
However, the second half was a completely different story as the Panther women showed a ton of resilience and turned things around. Some small adjustments at halftime and a lot of hard work on the floor enabled a third quarter surge by the Panthers to get back into the game. Principia outscored Covenant 20-10 to be down just 7 going into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was an exclamation point for Principia as they got back to how well they've shown they can play in the past year. Lock down defense led to great offensive actions by every member of the team. Down 4 with less than a minute left,
Alana Hinson got fouled and went to the line to shoot 2. After hitting the first one, she missed the second but
Paige Fowler got a hand on the rebound and tipped it toward the end line.
Trinniti Matthews then saved it on a leaping play kicking the ball out to
Carolina Rojas who immediately passed it back to Hinson for a clutch, game-tying three.
Getting back on defense and determined to get a stop, the Panthers did just that as Matthews came down with the rebound again and passed it to
Ariana Williams with 8 seconds left. Williams exploded down the court and drew a foul with just 1.4 on the clock as she attempted a pull up jumper before the horn. She went to the line and hit the first free throw to give the Panthers their first lead of the game, 60-59. Williams missed the second, but Matthews came down with another huge rebound to seal the Panthers' first win.
Coach Ro said afterwards: "Covenant is such a great and well-coached team. Our women listened to the halftime adjustments that we gave them and locked down on the defensive end. They never gave up on themselves or lost confidence in each other. I am so proud of them and their growth in this early season."
Up Next: The Panthers have a quick turnaround to their second game of the shootout as they take on LaGrange College at 12:00 pm on Saturday.
