CLAYTON, MO – The Principia Women's Basketball team kicked off their conference season on the road on Saturday against the Fontbonne University Griffins. The Panthers were coming off of their best overall game of the season on Tuesday in Chicago and needed a similar performance to defeat their tough conference rival.
The game started off just like Principia was hoping with a multitude of Panther scores in the paint. Besides a short lull in the middle of the quarter, the Panther defense started and finished strong to give Principia a 24-16 lead going into the second. The defense really locked in throughout the second to widen the lead to 14 going into halftime.
The second half was a much closer contest as the teams traded runs. After Fontbonne hit a three to start the half and cut the lead to 11, the Panthers steady play on both ends allowed them to stretch the lead all the way to 21 midway through the third quarter. Over the next 12 minutes, the Griffins fought back to cut the lead back to 11 with 2:30 to go, but that would be as close as they would get as Priinciipia closed out the game to win by 16 at 75-59.
This game was by far Principia's best offensive game of the season as the Panthers had balanced scoring with big contributions from all five starters.
Ariana Williams recorded her first double double of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds while adding 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.
Alana Hinson and
Taylor Brown tied for the team scoring lead with 17 points each. Hinson added 7 rebounds and 2 steals while Brown chipped in 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Trinniti Matthews had 12 points and 7 rebounds, followed closely by
Carolina Rojas with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
"I thought the third quarter was where we showed how well prepared we were for Fontbonne, and our overall mental toughness proved so valuable the entire game," said
Taylor Brown afterwards.
Coach Ro said, "Fontbonne is such a tough team to play against, and we had our hands full the entire game, but I could not be prouder of the way our women came out and fought. Every one of these 16 young women has helped the team achieve this year, and I'm so pleased with our entire group."
Up Next: The Panthers return to Elsah for a three-game home stand against conference opponents, beginning on Thursday at 5:30 pm against new SLIAC team, MUW.
