Leavell’s Big Second Half Pushes Spalding Past Principia 55-40
The Spalding Lady Golden Eagles beat the Principia Panthers 55-40 Saturday afternoon. The Lady Golden Eagles trailed Principia by 2 after a lethargic first half, but exploded on a 22-0 run to start the second half. Melinda Leavell led the Lady Golden Eagles with 15 points, all coming in the second half.
Principia grabbed a 5-0 lead with a three pointer, and two free throws by Sarah Corbitt. Tesha Wright and Megan Davis hit a jumper a piece to get Spalding within 1 at 5-4. Principia’s knocked down a pair of jumpers going up 9-4 until Megan Davis hit a jumper cutting the Spalding deficit to 3. The Panthers and Golden Eagles traded basket the next few possession as Principia led 12-15 with 8:56 to play in the first. A Kayla Thompson layup in transition cut Principia’s lead to 1, but Principia pushed their lead back to 3 at 17-14. Two Megan Davis free throws cut Principia’s lead to 1 with 5:37 left in the half. Katie Dennison gave the Lady Golden Eagles an 18-17 lead with 4:32 left in the first. Becca DeNicholas began a 5-0 Panther to give Principia a 22-18 lead with a minute to play in the half. Jessica Guy got a put back off a Lindsey Roarx miss to get Spalding within 2 at the half. Kayla Thompson and Megan Davis led Spalding scorers at the half with 6 points each.
Jessica Guy tied the game at 22 with a jumper on Spalding’s first possession. Guy’s jumper ignited a 22-0 Spalding run over the first four minutes of the second half. The Lady Golden Eagles led 42-22 at the 15:55 mark in the second half. Principia would respond with a 14-2 run of their own to cut Spalding’s lead to 8 at 44-36, forcing coach Just to call a timeout with 6:42 remaining. Principia would cut Spalding’s lead to 6, but back to back three pointers by Kirsten Hayes and Melinda Leavell would put Spalding up 50-38 with 5:15 to play. Tesha Wright’s baseline jumper would extend the Golden Eagle lead to 14 with 1:43 left in regulation.
Up next for the Lady Golden Eagles is a home game Wednesday against Lindenwood-Belleville at 7:00pm.
