The Spalding University (2-1) women's basketball team suffered their first loss of the season, 73-60, to No. 25 Transylvania (2-0) Tuesday evening at Derek Smith Gymnasium.

Sophomore Brandy Hunter came off the bench to lead the Golden Eagles with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting, and Kayla Styles added 10 points.  

Transy's Katelyn Smith led all scorers with 24 points, and preseason All-American Nicole Coffman added 19.

The Pioneers came out of the gate on fire hitting their first three three-point attempts to take a 9-0 lead, and pulled out to a 23-8 advantage following two Katelyn Smith free throws. The Golden Eagles responded with an 8-0 run cutting their deficit to seven on a Julie Skaggs put-back. An Elizabeth Thomas jumper pushed it back to nine, but a Skaggs layup followed by a Hunter three pointer cut the Pios lead to four points at 25-21. Transy's Jordin Fender connected on pair of free throws and Smith buried a three pointer to push the SU deficit back to nine. SU scored their next eight points from the free throw line to get back within four points at 33-29 with 3:18 to play. However, Transylvania closed the half on 9-4 run, and SU went to the break trailing 42-33.

In the second half, Transy opened with an 11-4 run capped by an Alex McKenzie layup off a feed from Coffman to jump out to a 53-37 lead. A pair of Dee Dee Sliter free throws sparked a 9-2 Spalding run that got SU within single digits at 56-47 with 11:15 to play. However, the Pioneers responded with a 13-2 run that stretched their lead to 20 with 5:17 to play. Despite being down late, the Golden Eagles kept fighting outscoring Transy 11-4 to end the game to make the final score 73-60.

The glaring statistical difference was SU's inability to knockdown the three-point shot. The Golden Eagles were held to 17.4% shooting from beyond the arc, while the Pioneers connected on 47.1% of their attempts. However, the Golden Eagles did lead in several defensive statistics, forcing 15 Transy turnovers, while swiping seven steals and blocking five shots.

Up next, the Golden Eagles will host Centre College Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00 p.m. EST. If you can't make it out, you can catch the action live on Spalding All-Access.