MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team suffered an 88-64 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) home loss to the Benedict College Tigers on Monday evening at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
The East Division-leading Tigers (12-2, 6-1 SIAC East) held a 40-31 lead at the intermission, but the Badgers rallied in the first four minutes of the 3
rd quarter to cut the deficit to 44-43. Benedict then regained its composure to build out a 66-52 advantage headed to the final 10 minutes of play. Spring Hill would get no closer than 15 points in the 4
th quarter.
Senior forward
Tiffany Valentine of Houston, Texas finished the night with 14 points and senior shooting guard
Elise Reilly added 13 points, including going 3-of-3 from 3-point range. Sophomore forward
Mathilde Nicolas from Nantes, France contributed 12 points to the Badger cause.
As a team, the Badgers shot 40% (22-55) overall in the game, including 47.1% (8-17) from beyond the 3-point arc. SHC turned the ball over 18 times versus against just 7 steals by the Tigers, resulting in 27 points for the visitors from Columbia, S.C. The Badgers also struggled to 57.1% (12-21) performance at the free throw line.
Amaya Ashby and Ay'anna Bey each had 14 points in a balanced offensive attack for the Tigers, who finished the night with a 39% (23-59) effort from the field and a 36.4% (12-33) outing from 3-point range. Benedict scored on just 68.2% of its free throws, but the freebies added up to 30 made out of 44 attempts as SHC committed 28 personal fouls. The Tigers also lost 18 turnovers to three Badger steals, but outscored SHC 27-18 in points off turnovers. Benedict dominated the inside game, taking a 22-16 advantage in scoring in the paint while hauling in 51 rebounds to 29 for Spring Hill.
The Badgers (4-9, 3-2 SIAC West) will travel to Tuskegee on Saturday to take on the Golden Tigers (7-7, 3-2 SIAC West) of Tuskegee University at 2 p.m. in the Daniel "Chappie" James Center.
