SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team raced out to an early lead and maintained a comfortable double-digit advantage for much of the second half to earn a 79-65 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) road victory over conference newcomers the Savannah State University (SSU) Tigers on Thursday evening at Tiger Arena.
SHC led the Tigers (4-3, 1-3 SIAC East) by a 40-27 margin at halftime after storming out to a 23-10 advantage in the first 10 minutes of play led by the outside shooting of senior guard
Elise Reilly who posted 21 points in the opening 20 minutes with seven 3-point buckets.
With five minutes left in the contest, SSU had cut the lead to 8-points at 63-55, but two consecutive jumpers from freshman guard
Tyashia Bostick of Charleston, S.C. rebuilt a 12-point advantage for the Badgers who never looked back from there and sealing the game with four straight free throws over the final 40 seconds.
Reilly finished the night with 27 points off 8-of-19 3-point shooting to go with three free throws. Senior forward
Tiffany Valentine of Houston, Texas was hot on her heels with 21 points in a 7-of-14 effort and 14 rebounds while junior forward
Katie Krout of Tuscaloosa, Ala. had 10 points with 13 rebounds. Bostick put in 15 points for her personal season-high. Freshman guard
Lindi DeBilzan of Lexington, Ky. also joined the fun with a 10-rebound performance.
Reilly's eight treys is tied for 4
th most in a game in SHC women's history surpassed only by her own three efforts of two 10-bucket and one 9-bucket nights.
As a team, the Badgers shot 40% (28-70) in the game, including 30.8% (8-26) from beyond the 3-point arc, but continued to struggle with turnovers by losing 20 fumbles to 10 steals by the Tigers. Spring Hill completed 75% (15-20) of their free throws while controlling the boards by a 54-44 advantage in rebounding.
Robbi Allen had 16 points for SSU as the Badgers held the Tigers to 32.1% (25-78) from the field, including just 6.3% (1-16) from 3-point range. Savannah State scored on 66.7% (14-21) of their free throws, but lost just 12 turnovers to seven steals by Spring Hill resulting in a 13-6 advantage in points off turnovers for the Tigers.
Having finished the 2019 portion of their schedule, the Badgers (3-8, 2-1 SIAC West) now take a two-week break for the holidays before hosting SIAC foe the Paine College (PC) Lions (4-6, 3-1 SIAC East) on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 2 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
