LOUISVILLE, KY – Making history is nothing new for the exceptional group of women on the 2025-26 Principia College women's basketball team. However, it doesn't make it any less special when they achieve a new first for the program. The Panthers came into Saturday's season finale knowing they needed to defeat Spalding in the Golden Eagles' gym to clinch the team's first ever SLIAC regular season championship. With that goal in mind, the Principia women played with a unified determination to earn a historic victory, 63-48.
Spalding's gym can be a tough place to play, and neither team could find an offensive rhythm early on as the game was still tied 4-4 over halfway through the first quarter. However, the Panthers caught fire over the next ten minutes, going on a 25-10 run to take a stranglehold on the game. Principia continued to lock down on defense, and by the end of the first half, they had held Spalding to just 16 points over the opening 20 minutes. The Panthers would extend their 16-point halftime lead to 20 by the end of the third quarter, and they held off any surge by Spalding the rest of the game.
Hannah Myers, who led the way with 14 points, hit four more threes in this game to bring her total to 63 on the season – a new program record.
Lamiya Terrell picked up 3 more assists and 8 more steals and to bring her season totals to 104 assists and 101 steals. She leads the SLIAC in both categories and needs just 4 more assists and 1 more steal to break both program records, will she will surely accomplish in the conference tournament. Terrell currently sits 7th in all of Division III for steals and steals per game.
Saturday's win marked the 12th in a row for the Panthers to extend their program record win streak. They finished the season 14-2 in SLIAC play (their best conference record ever) and tied Webster for the regular season title. Webster owns the tiebreaker due to having fewer technical fouls in conference play, so the Gorloks get the #1 seed and will host the semifinals and finals of the SLIAC Tournament. The defending champion Panthers get the #2 seed and will play their semifinal matchup (opponent TBD) this Friday, February 27 at 5:30 PM in Webster's Grant Gymnasium. If they win that game, the championship game will be this Saturday, February 28 at 7:00 PM in the same venue.
Principia College students, faculty, and staff can get into the games for free with their Principia ID. Otherwise, tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 5-16.
