SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – Behind a pair of double-double performances from senior Lindsey Burnside and junior Jessica Mabry, the Spring Arbor University women's basketball team rolled to a 79-48 victory over Lourdes University on Saturday.
Burnside finished with a season-high 17 points and a career-best 19 rebounds – just three off the SAU single-game record. Meanwhile, Mabry came up one assist shy of matching the program's all-time single-game mark, dishing out a career-high 14 helpers to go along with 11 points.
It was sophomore Kylie Townsley, though, that helped stake the Cougars to an early lead, scoring eight of the squad's first 11 points to put SAU on top 11-5 less than eight minutes into the contest. Moments later, Mabry found freshman Faith Johnson for back-to-back baskets to give the Cougars a 13 point advantage, 21-8.
Late in the opening half, Mabry capped an 11-0 run with a jumper to increase the margin to 22 before Spring Arbor closed period on an 8-0 run to take 43-14 lead into the break.
Spring Arbor shot nearly 60 percent (19-for-32) through the first 20 minutes while the defense limited the visitors to 14 percent (4-for-28) from the field. The Cougars also forced the Gray Wolves into 14 giveaways, turning those into 17 points.
Lourdes (5-8) came out strong to begin the second stanza, quickly cutting the deficit to 19. However, that's as close as it would get. Burnside notched the first eight points of the half for SAU to hold off the charging Gray Wolves before sophomore Aimee Konkel delivered the dagger, draining consecutive three-pointers to balloon the lead to 29.
The Cougars finished the afternoon hitting 51 percent (33-for-65) of their shots compared to LU's 27 percent (18-for-66). Spring Arbor dominated the game down low, outscoring the visitors 42-24 in the paint.
Konkel tallied 13 points in addition to her four rebounds, four steals and three assists. Townsley also finished in double figures posting 11 points with four rebounds and three steals. Freshmen Cara Hoffman and Autumn Goggin followed with nine points while Johnson chipped in six.
Spring Arbor (5-9, 0-3 Crossroads League) will open the New Year against Crossroads League foe Mount Vernon Nazarene University (3-9, 0-3 Crossroads League) at home on Saturday, Jan. 3 beginning at 3 p.m.
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