Box Score CLINTON, Miss. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team earned its first win of the 2015-2016 season on Saturday afternoon with an 83-76 non-conference road victory over the Mississippi College (MC) Lady Choctaws at A.E. Woods Coliseum.

Spring Hill grabbed a 19-15 lead late in the 1st period, but a buzzer-beating layup by the Lady Choctaws (1-1) cut the Badger advantage down to 19-16 heading into the second 10 minutes of play.

As has become their tendency in the early part of this season, Spring Hill opened the 2nd period on a strong run to build a 26-18 lead with 7 minutes to go until the half. MC cut the lead down to 35-34 with 16 seconds left in the half as Lady Choctaw Kristen Sampson took control with nine consecutive points. An impressive half-court heave by Allie Hill of MC found the mark as time expired to send the teams to the locker rooms at 37-37 as the Lady Choctaws outscored SHC 17-5 over the final 3:40 of the period.

The two teams traded baskets throughout the third period as junior center Leah Washington and freshman forward Tiffany Valentine began to take charge on the inside for the Badgers, staking SHC to a slim 60-58 advantage heading to the final period of play.

Senior guard Natalie Harper found the strings for three points off an off-balanced shot from the left side as the Badgers built a 78-72 cushion with less than three minutes to play. A minute later, a Washington free throw with 33 seconds remaining was followed by a crucial steal to maintain an 81-76 lead for Spring Hill.

With 10.8 seconds on the clock, Valentine dropped in two free throws to secure the 7-point victory for SHC.

Following the game, SHC head coach Karen McConico was happy her Badgers secured their first win of the year, but she was far from satisfied. "We lost focus at the end of the second period," she said. "We are still a young team and we have played so many games in the early going that we haven't had a chance to get in the gym and work on those little things. I'm relying on a lot of young players especially at the point guard position, so I am going to have to live with some of their mistakes. But when it's all said and done, it's about getting better for conference play. That's what the early season is all about."

The Badgers were led by the inside play of Washington with 22 points and Valentine with 20 points. The team shot 47.1% (32-68) from the floor and 41.7% (5-12) from 3-point distance. Spring Hill hurt itself with 23 turnovers versus just four MC steals and benefited from 19 Lady Choctaw turnovers against 10 Badger steals.

For the Lady Choctaws, Chloe Roberts had 22 points, Sampson pitched in 14 points, and Carmen Clemmons added 17 points and eight rebounds. Overall, MC was 44.1% from the field (26-59) and 45.5% (5-11) from behind the 3-point arc.

The Badgers (1-2) return home for a non-conference contest with the Lady Argos (0-2) of the University of West Florida on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.