LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, GA – The Principia College women's basketball team opened their season over the weekend by participating in Covenant College's Mountaintop Madness tournament down in Georgia. The Panthers were able to come away with two big victories, soundly defeating Welch College 77-59 on Friday night before outlasting Covenant 72-67 on Saturday morning.
In game one against Welch, Principia built an 8-point lead in the first half, but really ran away with the game in the third quarter when they outscored the Flames 24-11. The Panthers were led by senior
Carolina Rojas with 21 points on 8-12 shooting as well as 4 assists and 4 steals. Junior
Ariana Williams also had a strong first game as she nearly double-doubled with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Fellow junior
Taylor Brown and sophomore
Genesis Santiago each finished in double figures as well with 11 points apiece.
Game two against Covenent was a much closer battle as the tournament host Scots came out of the gate strong by taking a 24-19 lead by the end of the first quarter. Down by 12 midway through the second quarter, the Panthers would wake up and fight back by finishing the half on a 15-0 run to take a 36-33 lead at halftime. The second half was a back-and-forth affair throughout. After a lay up by Brown with 1:46 remaining tied things up at 67, the Panthers played great defense to close the game and made 5/6 free throws after drawing fouls on offense to clinch the 5-point victory.
Taylor Brown led the Panthers in game two with 22 points, including 10 made free throws.
Trinniti Matthews (11 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals) and
Ariana Williams (10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals) each made huge contributions on both ends of the court as Principia finished with an impressive 18 steals as a team. Junior
Lamiya Terrell also had a nice game with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals.
The Panthers will continue their season opening road trip when they head to Indiana to face Rose-Hulman on Thursday at 7:00 pm ET and then Arkansas to face Ozarks on Saturday at 1:00 pm CT.
