LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Spalding women's basketball team rolled to victory Tuesday evening over Saint Mary-of-the-Woods at the Derek Smith Gymnasium, 98-83. The Golden Eagles improve their record to 6-1, while St. Mary's drops to 5-5.

Pacing the Golden Eagles was guard Brandy Hunter with a game-high 28 points and nine rebounds. Center Maddie Martin and forward Kelsey Kaiser were right behind her. Martin scored 16 points and Kaiser 15 respectively. Leading Saint Mary-Woods was Callan Taylor with 16 points.

With a layup, forward Julie Skaggs kicked off the scoring for the Golden Eagles. At 8:53, SMWC's Grace Ziegler hit a three, making the score 4-3, but a Brandy Hunter layup jumpstarted a 7-0 Eagles burst. Spalding was dominant in the first quarter, Alex Martin found Skaggs for a layup just before the horn to give the Golden Eagles a 37-20 lead heading into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, a Taylor layup at the 9:44 mark cut the SU lead to 15 points. Over the next two minutes the two teams would go scoreless while turning the ball over a combined four times. Finally, SU forward
Mackenzie Myers connected on a three-pointer pushing the lead to 18 points at 40-22. The paced seemed to get to SU as the Pomeroy's cut the deficit down to four points. SU ended the half with a Myers put-back following a Kim Mingus missed jumper to push the lead back to six at the half, 52-46.

The third quarter was dominated by Kaiser, Hunter and Maddie Martin, the trio combined for all 18 of Spalding's points in the quarter. Kaiser made a free throw, sparking a 7-0 run to extend the SU lead to 13. At 7:07, Ziegler hit a jump-shot igniting a 13-0 SMWC run that would tie the game at 59-59 following a Kristen Nestor three-pointer. Kaiser helped the Eagles forge ahead by four hitting back-to-back layups. With a 1:25 left on the clock, Hunter hit a three followed by a layup by Maddie Martin to end the quarter on a 5-0 run extending the lead to 70-63 heading into the fourth

The Eagles had a big fourth quarter scoring 28 points on 52.4% shooting for the period. The Pomeroy's inched closer getting within two points at 7:07 mark following a three-pointer made by Shelby Parmer, making the score 75-73. However, the Golden Eagles answered, outscoring the Pomeroy's 25-8 to end the game. Kim Mingus hit a long three at the buzzer to make the final margin 98-83.

The Golden Eagles will be back on the court against Neumann University in St. Petersburg, Florida on December 18th; tipoff is at 7pm EST.