The Lady Golden beat St. Mary of the Woods College 72-49 Tuesday night at Derek Smith Gymnasium. Spalding played great on defense forcing SMWC to 22 turnovers and snatching 11 steals. Megans Davis led the Lady Golden Eagles on defense with 5 steals. Spalding had a good shooting night, going 43.1% from the field. Melinda Leavell led Spalding with 15 points while Tesha Wright grabbed 9 rebounds.

A jumper by Megan Davis and a Melinda Leavell three pointer gave Spalding an early 5-0 lead. A put back by Chelsey Barron cut Spalding’s lead to 3 at the 18 minute mark. Another Leavell three pushed the Golden Eagle lead to 6 points, but a Whitney Allen jumper would cut the Spalding lead to 4. SMWC went on a 5-0 run taking 9-8 lead, before a Megan Davis layup gave Spalding a 10-9 lead. SMWC would take a 13-12 lead, but a 6-0 run fueled by back to back Kristen Baker jumpers gave the Lady Golden Eagles a 18-13 lead with 11:38 to play in the first half. An 8-0 run extended the Spalding’s lead to 13 at 26-13 with 8:03 left in the half. A run out layup by Hannah Washle pushed Spalding’s lead to 15 at the 6:40 mark. A Megan Davis steal resulted in a Kerstin Hayes three pointer that gave Spalding a 34-13 lead with 4 minutes left in the first half. SMWC finally stopped Spalding’s run, but the Lady Golden Eagles answered with a quick 9-0 run to extend their lead to 28 with 1:30 left in the half. A SMWC jumper by Barron cut the Spalding lead to 26 with a minute to play, but a pair of Tesha Wright free throws pushed the lead back to 28. Barron hit another with 21 seconds to play in the first to cut Spalding’s lead to 26. Spalding looked great, ending the half on a 33-6 run. Melinda Leavell led Spalding at the half with 9 points while shooting 60% from the field.

Spalding got on the scoreboard first in the second half with a pair of Jessica Guy free throws. SMWC answered with a 5-0 run to cut Spalding’s lead to 23, but two more Guy free throws pushed the Spalding lead back to 25. SMWC cut Spalding’s lead to 19 with a quick 6-0 run. A Leavell runner in the lane pushed Spalding’s lead back to 21 with 16:04 left in the game. Leavell hit a three on Spalding’s next trip down the court to extend Spalding’s lead to 24 at 54-30. A 5-0 SMWC run cut the Golden Eagles lead to 19 with 13:05 to play. A pair of Washle free throws and a LaQuisha Boyd layup put Spalding up 23. Spalding and SMWC traded baskets over the 4 minutes, Spalding led by 21 with 8:54 left in the second half. A Jessica Guy jumper and Kerstin Hayes free throw extended Spalding’s lead to 24 at 63-39 with 6:35 to play. SMWC cut Spalding’s lead to 20 at 66-46 with 2:14 left in regulation.  Two Washle free throws extended Spalding’s lead to 22 with 1:58 to play. Brittany Fears scored the last 4 points for Spalding. The Lady Golden Eagles won by a final score of 72-49.     

Spalding’s next home game is January 4th, against Eureka College at 6:00pm in Derek Smith Gymnasium.

Tags: Women's Basketball //