The Lady Panthers 63-50 loss to the Blackburn Beavers this afternoon was truly a game of two halves. The Principia squad started off strong, with back-to-back buckets from sophomore
Lindsay Sydness and freshman Sarah Corbitt. However, after going up 4-0, Principia relinquished the lead and never really regained control. The Panthers hit a dry spell, playing without a bucket until the 15 minute mark, with a pair from the charity stripe by Sarah Corbitt. Corbitt and Sydness were the only two players for the Lady Panthers to score in the first half, with 8 and 12 respectively. Despite having played intense team defense throughout the whole first half, the Principia women entered the locker room at halftime trailing by 12. The Lady Panthers came out firing in the second half of regulation, but did not score until the 16 minute mark with a strong fast break lay-up by
Sarah Corbitt, assisted by senior
Lyndsay Eaton. The scoring load was still shared only by Sydness and Corbitt, until junior point guard
Emily Wheeler decided to take matters into her own hands, driving hard to the basket and drawing the foul, hitting 2 for 2 from the line on two consecutive possessions. (Side Note: Wheeler’s 4-4 performance from the line this afternoon continues her free throw streak in the past 4 games, helping her shatter the current record with a 21-21 from the line. The previous record was held by former player of the year, Christina Speer with 17 in a row.) Wheeler’s strong moves to the basket helped spark a comeback for the Lady Panthers, as they crawled all the way back within 5, making the score of 46-41 with 9:29 left to play.
In the end though, the Beaver’s lead proved insurmountable, ending the game ahead with a score of 63-50. In spite of the loss, several noteworthy accomplishments were recorded by the Lady Panther squad today, including a double-double by Lindsay Sydness (23 points, 11 boards), 19 points from Sarah Corbitt, a career-high 8 boards from Lyndsay Eaton, and of course, perfection from the free throw line by Emily Wheeler. The Lady Panther's next game is Tuesday, February 9th, 6:00pm at HOME.