CONWAY, AR – The Principia Women's Basketball team loaded up and traveled to Arkansas on Friday after Thursday's double overtime win. They would be taking on the Hendrix College Warriors on Saturday in their final contest before the holiday break. Principia beat Hendrix by five in last year's season opener, and the Panthers hoped for a repeat performance as they looked to extend their five game win streak.
Principia started off quickly by winning the tip followed by two athletic drives to score by sophomores
Taylor Brown and
Ariana Williams. The Panthers defense was slower to warm up and allowed Hendrix to win the first quarter 14-12. Principia's defense began to come alive in the second quarter, which helped spark the offense as the Panthers got a three from senior
Alana Hinson and a three-point play from freshman
Elyssa White to retake the lead. In the final minute of the half, freshman
Lydia Stalnaker stepped up and hit a big three for her first collegiate points to give Principia a 32-24 lead going into the break.
The Panthers' recent trend of sketchy third quarters continued on Saturday as Hendrix worked their way back into the game by cutting the Panthers lead to just 2 points as they entered the fourth. In the fourth, sophomore
Trinniti Matthews found her game as the Panthers started to cut the Hendrix defense apart. Matthews scored 10 of her team-leading 14 points in the fourth to help the Panthers close out the 64-53 win for their sixth straight victory. This moves the Panthers' record to 7-2, which is the best start of a season through nine games in program history.
Coach Ro said afterwards, "To go into break being in the position that these women have put themselves in is incredible. We dreamed of going into Christmas at 7-2, and we have accomplished that goal. We had some great play from our bench today and a lot of moments of growth. Our bench is getting some minutes that they have earned, and I am so happy and proud of them. We still have a lot of the season left when we return from the break, but I like our play right now and believe this team is capable of some incredible outcomes this year."
Up Next: Right after Christmas, the team will fly to Daytona Beach to take part in the Florida Sunshine Shootout. The Panthers will take on two teams from the east coast they they have never faced before. First, they will face DeSales University (from Pennsylvania) on December 28 at 10:00 am ET, and then they will face Endicott College (from Massachusetts) on December 29 at 2:00 pm ET.
