St. Petersburg, Fla. – The Spalding University women's basketball team overcame a 29-24 halftime deficit to defeat Neumann University, 62-56, Friday night at the St. Pete Classic in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Golden Eagles improve to 7-1 on the season, with a 2-1 mark in conference play.

Mackenzie Myers paced the Golden Eagles with a game-high 18 points and seven rebounds. Maya Hardin just fell short of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Johanna Metzger led Neumann with 10 points and 15 rebounds.

The Golden Eagles and Knights were tied 11-11 at the end of the first quarter. Neither team could establish much offensively, combining to go 9-of-34 from the field. Spalding had the biggest lead of quarter when Maya Hardin found Myers for a layup to make the score 5-2 at the 7:21 mark. Neumann closed the gap and took a 10-11 lead, but a Julie Skaggs free throw with 32 seconds to go tied the score at 11 at the end of one.

Spalding went cold to start the second quarter missing five of their first six field goal attempts allowing the Knights to jump out to a 24-14 lead at the six minute mark. The Golden Eagles inched their way back cutting the deficit to three points following an Alex Martin and-one with 2:29 left in the half to make the score 27-24. Neumann's Alex Fernandez connected on a jumper with nine seconds to play and SU trailed 29-24 at the half.

After giving up a three-pointer on the opening possession of the third quarter, Spalding tightened up on defense holding Neumann to just 12 points the remainder of the quarter.  Following the opening three, Neumann missed their next seven field goal attempts as the Golden Eagles mounted a 6-0 run cutting the deficit to two points following an Alex Martin jumper with 5:42 remaining. A Skaggs layup at the 2:33 mark gave the Golden Eagles their first lead of the half at 39-37. Neumann's Johanna Metzger would give the Knight's a 42-44 lead, but another Skaggs layup would knot the score at 44 heading into the fourth quarter.

Myers and Hardin converted a pair of layups to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 burst to start the fourth to make the score 48-44.  Neumann battled back eventually taking a 51-48 lead with 5:13 to play, but a Hardin and-one on SU's next possession tied the game at 54 all. After exchanging a pair of empty possessions, the Knight's Emily Lyons knocked down a three to give NU a 54-51 advantage. Again, Hardin answered the call drilling a triple on the Golden Eagles next possession to tie the game, 54-54.  From there it was all SU, Alex Martin scored the go-ahead basket on a putback following a Maddie Martin miss, and Brandy Hunter knocked down a three-pointer to extend the SU lead to five with 1:14 to go as SU won 62-56.

Spalding will be back on the hardwood tomorrow wrapping up the St. Pete Classic with a 6:00 p.m. tilt against Agnes Scott. You can follow the game via live stats at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/eckerd/wbball/