ELSAH, IL – The Principia Women's Basketball team hosted Greenville University on Tuesday night looking to end the program's 15 year losing streak against their rival Panthers. After a heartbreaking overtime loss in their first meeting at Greenville, Principia fought hard but was unable to come out on top in another tight battle.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair ending with Principia slightly ahead 12-11. Principia then hit a wall offensively in the second quarter as their normal attacks of the rim did not bring about the normal points that they produce. For the second game in a row, the easy shot on the attack seemed to fall short as the home Panthers went into the halftime down 21-26.
In the third, Principia came alive again led by their defense and work ethic. By winning the quarter 21-14, Principia had regained the lead going into the fourth up 42-40. However, late in the final frame, Principia once again struggled to finish plays at the rim and get stops on the defensive end. After a lay up put Principia ahead 50-49 with 5:30 remaining, Greenville would hold the home side scoreless the rest of the game while scoring the final 6 points to get the 55-50 victory.
Coach Ro said afterwards: "We play super hard all game, and I really love that about this team, but it seems like we are also very susceptible to having moments of low confidence in ourselves as a group which leads us to not play up to our huge potential. I will definitely be working on finding the key to getting this issue resolved so these women can get back to playing like the great team that I know that they are."
Up Next: Principia has another tough home matchup on Saturday when they host the undefeated Webster Gorloks at 1:00 pm. Come watch the Panthers go for their biggest win of the season!
