BATESVILLE, AR – The Principia Women's Basketball team finished up their southern swing through the conference with a Saturday afternoon date with the Lyon College Scots. The Panthers had a rough afternoon as Lyon and their high-flying offense didn't allow the Panthers to control the pace of the game in these team's second matchup of the season. The first matchup in Elsah went the way of the Panthers, and the Scots held serve on their home court by defeating Principia, 87-69.
The game started poorly as Principia struggled to find their legs on many of the attacks to the rim and lost the first quarter 22-11. The Panthers did fight back in the second to win the quarter 20-11 to go into halftime only down by two. Principia's struggles returned in the second half, Lyon found some holes in the Panther defense for some easy scores. The Scots took the second half 54-38 to win the game by 18 and end the Panthers' 5 game win streak.
For the 7th straight game, Principia's leading scorer was sophomore
Taylor Brown, who has been on fire in 2024. She finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists on the afternoon. After an off shooting night at MUW, senior
Alana Hinson returned to form vs Lyon with 17 points, as well as 9 rebounds and 2 steals. Sophomore
Trinniti Matthews also filled the stat sheet with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds, plus 5 assists and 2 steals.
Coach Ro took ownership afterwards: "We been having rough starts the last few games which is on me and something that I need to address. Our women fought hard all game and showed in the second quarter what we can do when we play our pace. This is our first southern swing with these new conference teams, and I need to do a better job of preparing the team for game two of the trip."
Up Next: The Panthers will be back home for two huge conference games next week aganist Greenville on Tuesday at 5:30 pm and Webster on Saturday at 1:00 pm. Tuesday's rematch of Principia's OT loss at Greenville will be especially big for the SLIAC Tournament seeding. Come support the women in their quest to make school history this season!
