COLUMBUS, MS – A long trip south on Thursday down to MUW was not enough to stop the Principia Women's Basketball team for a full 40 minutes. The Panthers did have some stiff legs coming off an 8 hour bus ride, which did slow the team down in the first half. However, just like their previous game at Eureka, the Principia women had a strong second half to earn a convincing win over the Owls, 61-48.
After the road trip sucked a lot of energy out of their legs, the Panthers let several scoring opportunities fall by the wayside in the first quarter as it came to a close tied at 10. The second quarter was a similar story as the two teams traded blows. The Owls used some timely three point shooting to stay even with the Panthers despite Principia's stingy defense. The two teams went into halftime tied 26 all.
At one point earlier this season, the third quarter was a nightmare for Principia. However, the Panthers have slowly but surely turned things around as the third has become the go to quarter for the team to take control. As their legs loosened up, the Panthers began to find their rhythm on both ends of the floor and closed the quarter with a dominant 21-7 run. The tighter defense started to dampen the Owls' confidence as the fourth quarter was more of the same. In the end, the Panthers held MUW to a tie for their lowest point total of the season at 48. The Principia victory was the team's fifth in a row to extend their conference record to 9-2 with now a two-game cushion in second over Greenville and Westminster.
Sophomore
Taylor Brown had an amazing night offensively as she finished the game with a career-high 26 points on 13 of 15 from the field. Brown also added 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. Freshman
Elyssa White had the best all around game of her young career with a double double of 14 points and 11 rebounds plus 1 assist and 2 steals. Sophomores
Ariana Williams and
Trinniti Matthews each contributed 7 points, with Williams added 12 big rebounds and 2 steals. Junior
Carolina Rojas helped out with her terrific defense and her ability to find the open teammates with 7 assists and 1 steal.
Coach Ro said afterwards: "I am very proud of these women and their resilience after such a long bus ride. The first half was not what they expect out of themselves, but their ability to come out in the third and lock down was simply a joy to watch. Thursday games with a Saturday game right after are always a tough week, but it's made easier if you can set the tone with a huge win in the first game like we were fortunate enough to accomplish."
Up Next: The Panthers continue their southern road trip by heading to Arkansas on Saturday to take on Lyon College at 1:00 pm.
