SPRING ARBOR, MI – The Lady Cougars trailed by just single digits almost the entire way to the Taylor Trojans until the very end of the game where Taylor secured the 62-51 victory on the free-throw line.

Both teams entered the game at 4-9 in the Crossroads League and tied for seventh place in the standings and through the first half the margin of the lead was mostly just three to four points.  Taylor spread the lead to seven points briefly, but the Cougar's Lindsey Burnside quickly scored on a pair of 12 foot jumpers from the side and Karly Bender scored from point blank range and SAU was within one point (18-19) halfway through the first half.  Five minutes later, the Cougars took the lead, 22-21, on a field goal by Carlie Newman.

Taylor's Kelci Freds capped off a 5-0 run in the first half with a 3-pointer as time ran out to give Taylor a 32-27 advantage at the break.

The two biggest deciding factors in this ball game were rebounding and Spring Arbor not connecting on the shots when they really needed them.

Taylor out rebounded the Cougars 48-30 in the game including the Trojans grabbing 16 offensive boards giving them multiple chances to score points.

Spring Arbor hit just 14% of the 3-pointers they took, three of fifteen attempts from outside.  The looks they had were good and came at the right moments, they just didn't go in.

Carlie Newman led the Cougars with 17 points and grabbing seven boards.  Lindsey Burnside went 3-3 from the field and 3-4 from the line for nine points.

The Cougars fall to 10-15 and 4-10 in the CL and will play at home on Wednesday night.  It won't be an easy week for Spring Arbor as they host the #1 team in the country in the University of St. Francis at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday night and then on Saturday they travel to #7 Indiana Wesleyan.