Women’s Basketball Splits in Dallas

It took the Women’s Basketball team an 850 mile trip to Dallas, TX to get their first win of the season. The Golden Eagles traveled to Dallas to play in a tournament that was hosted by Austin College. With back-to-back losses by Spalding, the Women’s team was looking to bounce back against the University of Dallas in the first round of the tournament and they did just that.

The Golden Eagles started out on fire as they built a 12-4 lead early in the game. However, a  15-0 run saw Spalding trailing 19-4 with over 5 minutes to play in the half. Spalding’s defense kicked it into gear and only allowed 1 field goal over the final 5:28 of the first half and went into halftime only down 4.

The second half saw a quick surge from University of Dallas as they quickly built their lead back up to 10. However, an 8-0 run saw the Golden Eagles cut the lead to 10 and with 5 minutes to go a Megan Bunch three pointer tied the game. With the game tied at 38-38 neither team could make a shot down the stretch and the score remained the same going into the final minute. Two missed opportunities on both ends saw Spalding with the ball with less than 10 seconds to play. A Kelly Harrod layup with 4 seconds left, her first points of the second half, sealed the game for the Golden Eagles who went on to win 42-38.
“It was really good to get our first win after two early losses on the road,” Head Coach Charlie Just stated. “We didn’t play particularly well, especially on the offensive end, but our defense was solid enough to give us a chance.  Our young ladies did a good job of making plays at the end of the game, and Kelly Harrod hit a big shot to put us ahead with 4 seconds left.”

Game two of the tournament vs. host school Austin College saw the offense come alive but also saw the defense struggle. It was a hard fought back and forth game that saw Spalding University down 3 points with 5 seconds left in the game. With no timeouts left Jackie Skaggs walked to the free throw line in which she knocked down the first free throw and then intentionally missed the second with hopes that her teammates would get a rebound and a put back. There was no such luck. A rebound by Austin College’s Katy Williams sent Spalding to the 72-68 defeat. “It’s tough because I thought we played very well this game,” Coach Just commented. “Yesterday we didn’t play great and won, and today I thought we played very well and lost.”

Leading the way for the Golden Eagles was Senior Forward Jackie Skaggs who put in 23 points with 9-13 shooting from the field. Spalding out rebounded Austin College by a margin of 41-28. Kelley Harrod led the way with 6 boards while Stafonia Taylor pulled down 5.

Tomorrow the women’s team will travel to Mount St. Joseph to take on the Lions. The game time is 7:30pm.