The Spring Hill College women’s basketball team snapped its losing streak in its final home game of the season with a 70-63 win over Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) foe Lane at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center on Monday evening.
Marta Duda recorded her seventh double-double of the season, highlighted by 14 points and 12 rebounds. She also a season-high three steals while shooting 5-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the free throw line.
Yolanda Nelson led the game in scoring with 17 points while hitting 6-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Nicole Blanch also had a career-high night, tallying 10 points, four baskets made, two 3-pointers and three assists.
Spring Hill held the lead for most of the first quarter, only allowing the game to be tied twice in the opening 10 minutes. The Badger lead over the Dragons continued through the second quarter and into halftime, 40-29.
SHC maintained its lead through the third quarter and into the fourth. The Badger lead was cut down to as little as one point, but in the end, Spring Hill held off Lane in its final home game of the season and burned its four-game losing streak with a 70-63 win.
The Badgers unselfish play led to a season-high 20 assists on the night.
Game Details
Date: Feb. 12
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Venue (Location): Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center (Mobile, Ala.)
Results
Spring Hill 70, Lane 63
Records: Spring Hill (5-15,5-11 SIAC), Lane (11-13,9-8 SIAC)
They Said It
Head Coach Dan Presel
On the game
“[I’m] super happy for our kids. We deserved to win and I’m glad, it kind of got tight there at the end and I’m glad we were able to hold on. Thought we had a good preparation, we were ready to play. Lane’s good, they’re 9-7 coming in for a reason, they’re tough to guard. We did a pretty good job of keeping them out of the paint when we needed to. Most proud of, we had 26 made baskets and 20 assists. Moved the ball, shared the ball, everybody that dressed had a big part in the ‘W’ today.”
On finishing the season on the road
“I think it’s important to go into tournament time building momentum, no matter what’s happened prior. We’ve played better basketball than our record [shows]. Our thing this whole time has been: let’s just continue to improve and get as good as you can. Still have a couple weeks left, I’m certain we can go to the tournament and stay for a while. It’s just important to us to keep building good habits, having great practices and translating on game day. When tournament time comes man, it’s fun.”
Yolanda Nelson (Guard, R-Sr.)
On her performance
“I feel like I had a good performance from the jump. I was just feeling it tonight, last home game, I just had to give it my all like Coach said in the beginning. He wanted us to leave it all out there, come back in the locker room with nothing, so I just tried to give my all.”
On the final stretch of her collegiate career
“Just trying to stay positive, get my team, just put them on my back and try to lead them to the tournament. We’re ready, I think we can do good, think we can make a big impact at the tournament. They haven’t seen what we can really do, but we’ll show them.”
Up Next
The Badgers begin their season-closing road stretch at Tuskegee on Saturday.
For complete coverage of Spring Hill women’s basketball, follow the Badgers on social media @SHCwbball (X), /SHCBADGERS (Facebook), @shcwomensbball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Spring Hill athletics at shcbadgers.com
