Beavers fall short in conference match-up

 The Blackburn Women's Basketball Team lost a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against Spalding University Wednesday night.

The Golden Eagles played great defense forcing Blackburn into 29 turnovers. Although the Beavers committed 29 turnovers, they found themselves down four points with two minutes left in the game. Blackburn shot 50 percent from the field compared to the Golden Eagles only shooting 42 percent from the field. Blackburn out-rebounded Spaulding 36 to 32, they also had ten offensive rebounds.

Jenna Dudra came out hot, as she scored nine points shooting four of five from the floor. Savannah Kruse followed with seven points of her own shooting two of four from the floor. Allison Just led the Golden Eagles with six points shooting two for two behind the arch.  After one quarter Spalding led Blackburn 28 to 25.

In the second quarter Kruse continued to stay hot as she scored five points shooting one of the three from the floor adding two free throws giving her five points. For the Golden Eagles, Meagan Hayden came off of the bench scoring four points shooing two of two from the floor.

Heading into halftime the Beavers were outshooting the Golden Eagles from the floor 50 percent to 44 percent. Both teams shot better than 60 percent from three-point land. Although Spaulding was leading 43 to 37.

In the third quarter the Golden Eagles extended their lead by five points. As they forced nine turnovers and shot 60 percent from behind the arch in the quarter. Just led Spalding with seven points shooting three of five from the floor. Lexie Black led the Beavers with four points shooting two of four from the floor.

Heading into the fourth Blackburn was looking to cut the Golden Eagles eleven-point lead.  With 9:32 left in the game Callista Francis made a layup to cut the lead to seven points. Blackburn's poor ball security led to the Golden Eagles, increasing their lead by twelve points. Blackburn went on a twelve to seven run to cut the lead to just four points with two minutes and seventeen left in the game. Spalding outscored Blackburn eleven to eight in the last two minutes to close out the game and win 85 to 78.

Blackburn had four players with double figures in scoring. Kruse led the Beavers with 23 points shooting 7 of fourteen from the floor and five of eight behind the arch. Dudra followed with 18 points shooting seven of thirteen from the field and was credited four steals. Black had 16 points shooting five of nine from the floor and six of thirteen from the charity stripe. Maria Cline recorded twelve points shooting four of ten from the floor and grabbing nine rebounds.

The Beavers fall to 4-11 (2-7 SLIAC) and Spalding improves to 8-8 (6-3 SLIAC). Blackburn will be back in action this Saturday at Eureka at 1:00 P.M.