Women's Basketball 11/11/2015 12:00:00 AM

Women's Basketball suffers first loss at Siena Heights

ADRIAN, Mich. – The Spring Arbor University women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Siena Heights University on Wednesday night, falling to the Saints 74-64 inside the SHU Fieldhouse.

The Saints, who are receiving votes in the Top 25 Poll, built a 43-28 lead through the first two quarters of play and, despite a hard-fought second half, the Cougars were unable to overcome the deficit.

Junior Kylie Townsley paced SAU with 18 points going 8-for-12 from the field. She also hauled in a team-high six rebounds. Autumn Goggin, Faith Johnson and Rachel Nelson all chipped in nine points while Nelson also finished with four steals.

Spring Arbor led 8-6 midway through the first quarter, but Siena Heights ended the period on a 16-9 run.

The Saint quickly increased their lead to double digits in the second quarter, and the margin would climb to as high as 19, 43-24, with 1:31 remaining in the half. Nelson would convert four consecutive free throws before halftime, though, to trim SHU's lead to 43-28 at the break.

The Cougars came out of the locker room red-hot hitting their first four shots, including a three-pointer from junior Aimee Konkel, to close the gap to eight points, 45-37. However, the Saints answered the scoring spurt with eight straight points of their own to boost their lead back to double digits and eventually take a 60-44 advantage into the final quarter.

After an early bucket gave the home team an 18 point lead, Spring Arbor used a 14-0 run – fueled by seven points from sophomore Faith Johnson – to get within four, 62-58, with 5:42 left on the clock.

However, the Saints, behind their top player Lauren Wirth, would respond with 11 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.

Wirth scored 17 of her game-high 25 points over the final two quarters to help the Saints hold off the late charge from the Cougars.

Siena Heights did most of its damage in close, outscoring SAU 46-22 in the paint. The Saints shot 56 percent (32-for-57) from the field for the game while limiting the Cougars to 34 percent (22-for-65).

Spring Arbor (2-1) will return home to host Great Lakes Christian College on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m.

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