ELSAH, IL – The day after finals ended and most students left for the semester, the Principia Women's Basketball team wanted to leave the remaining crowd with a game to remember as they took on the Fontbonne Griffins for the second time in two weeks. The two teams have had opposite trajectories so far this season as Principia came in looking to stay unbeaten in conference play, while Fontbonne came in searching for their first win.
The Panthers came out strong in the first quarter, picking up where they left off by taking it to the Griffins on both the offense and defense. Their rebounding advantage enabled Principia to win the first half 35-25. The third quarter saw a quick flip as the absence of injured guard
Carolina Rojas and her defensive prowess started to show when the Panthers worked to get stops. The Griffins took advantage of these defensive lapses in the second half, which are not characteristic of the this year's Panthers. Fontbonne slowly chipped away at Principia's lead throughout the half and tied it up on a clutch three with a minute remaining to send the game overtime.
Fontbonne carried their momentum into overtime and came out firing to take a six point lead in the first two minutes. From there, the Principia defense started to click back in and the Panthers collectively began to right the ship. After a lay up by
Alana Hinson cut the lead to four with two minutes remaining, the Panthers continued to get stops while
Ariana Williams and
Trinniti Matthews each hit two huge free throws to tie the game at 77 in the final minute. Each team would miss their attempts at a game-winner as the game extended into double overtime.
The Panthers and Griffins traded blows to begin the second OT period as the lead went back and forth. Freshman
Elyssa White stepped in for Rojas and had the best game of her young career as she came up huge in the second overtime. White scored back-to-back contested lay ups to open the period and also hit two free throws as she finished with her first collegiate double double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Ariana Williams and
Taylor Brown each added buckets in the final frame to pull away and give the Panthers a hard-fought 91-86 victory. The win moves Principia to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in SLIAC play, which is the best conference start in program history.
Williams was Principia's MVP in the game as she finished with career highs of 25 points and 14 rebounds while adding 3 blocks and 2 steals. Matthews just missed her fourth double double as she finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds while matching Williams with 3 blocks and steals. Hinson chipped in 15 points and 7 rebounds, and Brown added 10 points with a career high 9 assists.
Coach Ro said afterwards: "Amazing effort by Fontbonne and Coach Fitzgerald. Our women really played their hearts out and I could not be more proud of the group as a whole. We got positive contributions from everyone, and I am certainly happy for
Elyssa White who came off the bench and played outstanding. This is the kind of game that could of went either way and is a great example of the heart that these women have."
Up Next: This was the Panthers last conference contest of 2023, but the team will head down to Arkansas for a non-conference matchup with Hendrix College on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
