Women's Basketball Sets Program Record In Conference Wins

ELSAH, Ill.—The Fontbonne University women's basketball team set a new program record on Saturday with its 15^th conference win after coming away with the 81-57 victory over Principia.

Final: Fontbonne 81, Principia 57

Location: Elsah, Ill.

Records: Fontbonne (16-9; 15-3 SLIAC), Principia (0-22; 0-18 SLIAC)

How It Happened

In the first quarter, the Griffins jumped out to a comfortable 12-2 lead at the 5:53 mark on Raven Venegas' made layup. The team stretched it out to 21-8 on Rylee Stafford's bucket with a minute remaining and after one quarter of play they were on top by 11 (21-10).

In the second, after Sophia Hathaway made her jumper at 4:25 to trim the deficit to 29-20, the Griffins closed out the quarter on a 13-3 run as Riley Guffey's 3-pointer with 17.0 seconds remaining gave Fontbonne a commanding 42-23 lead at the break.

In the third, the Griffins opened with an 11-0 run in two minutes and 49 seconds time as Kourtney White's layup extended the Griffins lead, 53-23.

Later, at 1:44, Katie Grimes drilled her 3-pointer to push the Griffins lead out to 64-34. Taylor Sloan added a late bucket prior to the quarter ending to give them a 69-38 advantage going into the fourth.

In the finale, the Panthers outscored Fontbonne 19-12 but the deficit proved to be too much for a comeback with Fontbonne going on for the 24-point win.

Inside The Numbers

• Fontbonne shot 44.4 percent from the floor and connected on 12 3-pointers.
• Defensively, they forced 28 turnovers and turned that into 37 points.
• The Griffins benched outscored Principia's, 38-0.
• Principia shot 40.7 percent from the field.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Rylee Stafford led with a team-high 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. She's now up to 1,035 points in her career which moves her up to seventh all-time. She passes head coach Maureen Sias, then Maureen Roberts, as she totaled 1,032 in her career.
• Riley Guffey tied her career-high off the bench with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including going 5-of-7 from downtown.
• Kourtney White added 11 points, while Katie Grimes set a new season-high with 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting.
• Raven Venegas was the final player in double-figures with 10.

Principia Leaders

• Nikki Matters led with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting.
• Sophia Hathaway recorded a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Up Next

The team will be the No. 2 seed in the SLIAC Tournament next Friday at Webster. They'll take on No. 3 seeded Spalding at 5:30 p.m.   

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the women's basketball team.

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