Box Score TUSKEGEE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team closed out a three-game conference road swing with a 59-49  victory over Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) West Division rival Tuskegee University (TU) at the General Daniel "Chappie" James Center for Aerospace Science and Health Education on Monday evening.
 
The Tigerettes (5-9; 1-4 SIAC West) jumped out to a 5-0 lead off a short jumper from the left side and a 3-point bucket from the top of the key before Badger freshman Elise Reilly answered back with a 3-pointer of her own. Tuskegee's Rachel Brownlee scored the first nine points for the Tigerettes as the home team built an early 9-3 advantage, but the Badgers battled back behind the play of junior guard Jewel Hill to cut the deficit to 13-11 at the end of the 1^st quarter.
 
Spring Hill went ahead 14-13 early in the 2^nd quarter as Reilly hit a jumper to give the Badgers a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the night. With five minutes left in the half, SHC held a 17-13 cushion that senior forward Camry Johnson expanded to 19-13 with two free throws following the media timeout. Reilly continued to be hot with a long 3-pointer from the top of the key off a quick catch-and-shoot to make it a 22-13 contest. TU then broke the Badger run with two free throws, but freshman forward Katie Krout responded with two free throws of her own and Hill scored off a fast break lay up to rebuild a 25-15 margin. Tuskegee rallied to slice a 28-15 Badger lead down to 28-20 at halftime following three free throws in four attempts by Brownlee.
 
The teams traded buckets to open the 2^nd half until Reilly drained another 3-pointer to claim a 35-22 SHC advantage. Senior forward Alishia DraytonLewis then drove the lane with an aggressive move for two points to stake SHC to its largest lead to that point at 37-22, but the Tigerettes once again rallied to whittle the score down to 43-34 heading into the 4^th quarter.
 
Two free throws by Tuskegee in the opening moments of the final period made it 43-36, but senior center Leah Washington knocked down two free throws on the other end as SHC maintained a nine-point margin. A nice interior bounce pass by TU lead to an easy layup as the SHC lead dwindled to 45-38 only to see Johnson calmly drain two free throws to keep Tuskegee in check at 47-38. Hill then hit a long trey to hand SHC a 50-38 edge.
 
SHC held a nine-point lead with under two minutes to play as a Tuskegee free throw cut it down to an eight-point game, but Spring Hill remained focused and found an answer with a lay-up basket at 1:19. Just 10 seconds later, junior point guard Jennifer Clark added two free throws to extend the Badger lead to 56-44 and all but sealed the victory.
 
Washington scored 18 points with 12 rebounds to pace SHC while Reilly dropped in 15 points. The Badgers shot 34.7% (17-49) from the field including 31.6% (6-19) from 3-point distance while committing 22 turnovers against just three Tigerette steals. The Badgers also won the rebounding war 42-31 under the rims.
 
The Tigerettes shot 34.9% (15-43) overall including 71.4% (5-7) from 3-point range, but lost 20 turnovers to only one SHC steal. Brownlee finished the night with a game-high 20 points.
 
Spring Hill (7-5, 3-1 SIAC West) returns home on Saturday for a 2 p.m. conference match-up with the Benedict College (BC) Lady Tigers (9-7, 5-1 SIAC East) at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.