LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Spalding women's basketball team outlasted Fontbonne, 72-62, Wednesday evening at Columbia Gym. The win marked SU's third straight victory improving their record to 10-6 overall and 6-2 in conference play.
 
THE BASICS
THE SCORE: Spalding 72 – Fontbonne 62
LOCATION: Columbia Gym | Louisville, Ky.
RECORDS: Spalding 10-6 (6-2 SLIAC) | Fontbonne 6-9 (3-4 SLIAC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Griffins began the game with a turnover by Jillian Venegas leading to a pair of Tse Gahagan free-throws on the other end to put SU on the board, 2-0. A Raven Venegas jumper capped off a 9-3 Griffin run, but two possessions later Maleah Hirn converted an and-one on the front end of a quick 5-0 spurt putting SU in front, 10-9. Fontbonne would outscore Spalding over the next five minutes taking a 16-13 lead, but a Gahagan jumper trimmed the margin to one point at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Venegas sisters scored the first five points for Fontbonne putting the Golden Eagles in a six-point hole, 21-15. Spalding found the answer for the Griffins defense responding with a 16-2 run taking a 31-23 lead on an Allison Just layup at the 3:27 mark, and the Golden Eagles would go into halftime with a 35-30 lead.
 
- Spalding held onto an eight-point lead for the first three minutes of the third quarter, but the Griffins were able to close the margin the remainder of the quarter cutting the SU lead to two heading into the final quarter. In the fourth quarter, Spalding opened with an 8-0 run extending their lead to 10 on a Just jumper with 5:55 to go, and would stay out front until the final horn winning, 72-62.
 
NOTABLE STATS
- Three players scored fifteen-plus points for the Golden Eagles. Alex Martin led the way tallying 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Maleah Hirn also added 16 points and 6 rebounds, and Megan Goeing scored 15 points going 6-of-12 from the field. Tse Gahagan also had a solid game at the point recording 8 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds. Kendyl Powell provided a spark off the bench with 5 points and 7 rebounds in 20 minutes of action.
 
- The Golden Eagles struggled from beyond the arc shooting just 21.7 percent, but offset it by a strong rebounding effort going plus-nine on the boards, resulting in 13 second chance points. The Golden Eagles also dominated the paint scoring 32 points in the paint.
 
FOR THE FOES
- Raven Vengeas led all scorers with a game-high 17 points while pulling down six rebounds. Riley Guffey added 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.
 
UP NEXT
- The Golden Eagles are back in action Saturday, January 17^th at home, they are taking on the Principia at 3:00 pm EST.