JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Spalding University women's basketball team suffered their second straight loss Saturday afternoon falling to MacMurray, 77-70. The loss drops the Golden Eagles to 15-8 overall and 9-7 in the SLIAC, maintaining a share of fourth place. The win sees the Highlanders improve to 3-20 overall and 3-13 in the conference.
 
Alex Martin led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 24 points and added a team high four assists to complete her day. Julie Skaggs followed in scoring with 13 points to go along with eight rebounds. MacMurray's Brianna Markusic turned in a strong performance with 27 points and 10 rebounds to complete the double-double.
 
MacMurray would start the game quickly with a 5-2 run in the first 30 seconds to put the Golden Eagles down early. A three-pointer by Mackenzie Myers would see Spalding regain the lead at 9-8 with just over two minutes played in the quarter. The Highlanders would answer back with an 8-2 run jumpstarted by two three-point field goals to give MacMurray a 16-11 lead.  Spalding cut the lead down to three, but MacMurray would end the quarter on a 7-2 run and hold the advantage, 23-15.
 
The second quarter would see another hot start from MacMurray as 7-3 run pushed the Golden Eagles deficit to 12. With Spalding trailing 33-20, they would use a 5-0 run including two jumpers from Alex Martin to cut the lead down to single digits. MacMurray would hold a slight advantage for the remainder of the half and take a 43-33 lead into the locker room.
 
The third quarter was where the Golden Eagles would look to strike and get back into the ballgame. Using a 10-4 run through the first four and a half minutes, Spalding would cut the lead down to only three points, trailing 47-44.  MacMurray would answer however, with a three-pointer from Kylie Dostin, her second of the day. Spalding was determined to hang around and closed out the quarter on a 7-2 run including a jumper by Alex Martin at the end of the quarter to trim the highlander lead down to just one point, 52-51.
 
Maddie Martin would start the fourth quarter with a jumper and Spalding would gain their first lead since 7:48 in the first quarter. From there, the next three minutes would see the teams battle back and forth matching baskets until MacMurray broke free to go on a 7-0 run capped off by Dostin's third three-pointer of the game. This found the Golden Eagles down 69-61 halfway through the fourth. A 6-2 run by Spalding would see them cut the lead down to four with just under three minutes left to play. It would prove to be too much though, as MacMurray closed the game out on a 6-3 run to claim victory.
 
Spalding will be back in action this Wednesday, February 17^th when they head to St. Louis to take on Webster University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm EST.