Box Score

The Lady Eagles basketball team lost a heartbreaker against Iowa Wesleyan College Thursday night. Spalding led the entire game until Iowa Wesleyan's Jana Meister hit a jump shot to give the Tigers a 61-62 lead with only 15 seconds left and ultimately the victory.

Spalding started off the game strong scoring the first eight points of the game. SU continued to play well, increasing their lead to 37-21 with 4:50 left in the first half after a made jump shot by Dee Dee Sliter. However, Iowa Wesleyan would close the half on a 12-4 run, reducing Spalding's lead to 41-33 at halftime.

Spalding again started the second half strong after a made jumper by Hannah Washle and a three-pointer by Kerstin Hayes gave the Eagles a comfortable 46-33 lead with 16:55 left in the game.

Later in the half, Spalding's Brandy Hunter hit a three-pointer to make the score 58-50, but Iowa Wesleyan would go on a 6-0 run, making it a two-point game at 58-56 with just 5:11 left, the closest margin of the game since the score was 2-0 one minute and 11 seconds into the game.

A free-throw each by Spalding's Maddie Martin and Hannah Washle would extend Spalding's lead to 60-56, but two free-throws by Meister would cut Spalding's lead back to two with 3:20 left.

Spalding's Jessica Guy would hit a free-throw to make the score 61-58 with 3:05 to go, but that would be Spalding's last point of the game. Iowa Wesleyan's Kara Carter made a jumper to cut the Tigers deficit to one point, and Jana Meister would hit a jump shot with just 0:15 left to give her team the first lead of the game. Spalding would fail to score after the Iowa Wesleyan timeout, and Iowa Wesleyan would go on to win with a final score 64-61.

Freshman Maddie Martin led the SU offense with 13 points and four rebounds, while Lauren Grubb paced IWC with a game-high 24 points.

The Lady Eagles will be in action again on Saturday, February 8 at Eureka College at 2:00 p.m. EST.