SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – Despite its spirited play in the second half, the Spring Arbor University women's basketball team was unable to dig itself out of a first half hole and fell to Taylor University 82-64 on Saturday inside the SAU Fieldhouse.
After trailing by as many as 21, the Cougars closed the gap to nine with less than five minutes remaining. However, the Trojans would end the game on a 13-4 run to halt the late charge.
Sophomore Kylie Townsley scored a team-high 15 points while handing out four assists and junior Jessica Mabry finished with 11 points and seven helpers.
Taylor (11-7, 4-2 Crossroads League) capitalized on Spring Arbor's slow start, jumping out to a 27-7 lead midway through the opening period. The Cougars settled in, though, and outscored the visiting Trojans 23-21 over the final 10 minutes, but still trailed 48-30 at halftime.
In the second half, Spring Arbor continued to battle and slowly began chipping away at the deficit. Down 63-43 at the 11:19 mark, sophomore Aimee Konkel ignited a 10-0 run with back-to-back three-pointers. Moments later, sophomore Karly Bender knocked down a triple to cut the margin to single digits, 69-60, with 4:43 left to play.
The Trojans would answer, however, with five straight points to push its lead back to double digits and put the game out of reach.
Taylor hit 50 percent (33-for-66) of its shots on the afternoon while limiting Spring Arbor to 36 percent (23-for-64). The Trojans also grabbed 49 rebounds compared to SAU's 23.
Konkel and senior Lindsey Burnside chipped in 10 points apiece while Bender added seven. Senior LeAnn Porter hauled in a team-best five rebounds to go along with three points and two steals.
Up next, Spring Arbor (6-11, 1-5 Crossroads League) will play three straight teams ranked in the NAIA Top 10 beginning with No. 7 University of Saint Francis (13-5, 4-1 Crossroads League) on Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.
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