Fulton, Mo 2/6/2024- The Westminster College women's basketball team hosted the Principia College Panthers in a matchup of two top teams in the SLIAC with playoff implications on the line. The winner would find themselves in the #2 seed with 3 games remaining. After 14 lead changes and 12 ties, the Blue Jays came out on top 61-58 to win their eighth straight game. Westminster improves to 13-9 on the season and 11-4 in the SLIAC. Principia falls to 12-10 overall and 9-6 in the SLIAC.
The Blue Jays got a rough start, turning the ball over three times in the first four minutes of the game, which led to the Panthers taking an early 6-4 lead. Principia would end the first quarter leading 14-11.
Westminster would continue to struggle in the second quarter. The Panthers would go on a 7-0 run to start the quarter to break open a 21-11 lead. Aleah Wilmsmeyer would get the Blue Jays on the board in the second quarter, hitting a three to make it 21-14 with 6:43 to go before the half. Chole Akerson would get a steal and then hit a three to make a four-point game. Annette Ramirez would get to the free throw line and made both shots. After the free throws, the Blue Jays were down 22-19 with 2:35 to go in the half. Principia answered with a 6-0 run to get their lead back up to nine, 28-19. Avylina Powell-Qualo scored at the end of the half as the Blue Jays headed to the locker room trailing, 28-21.
The Blue Jays scored on their opening possession of the half, as they began to chip away at the Panthers' lead. Westminster would cut the deficit to one point after Powell-Qualo scored to make it 36-35 with 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter. With 1:24 remaining, Powell-Qualo would get to the free throw line, and she would tie the game 36-36. The Blue Jays forced back-to-back steals, leading to Ramirez scoring five points in a row. First, she drilled a three to give the Jays a 39-36 lead. Then had a layup to make the score 41-36 with time winding down. Principia would make two free throws and ended the third quarter with the Blue Jays up 41-38.
Westminster exploded at the beginning of the fourth quarter, going on a 7-0 run to get their largest lead of the game, 48-38. The Panthers would continue to fight and would come back to tie the game 52-52, with 3:20 left in the game. Principia would get to the free line and took the lead back, 54-52. Ramirez would get to the free throw line for the Blue Jays and tied the game back up 54-54. After forcing a turnover, the Blue Jays would get a three from Olivia Hixson to go back on top, 57-54 in the final two minutes of the game. Westminster would force Principia to turnover the ball over again and ended with a fast break layup from Ramirez with the assist from Caragan Lockard, who also came up with the steal. The Panthers would get a steal and a layup going the other way to make it 59-56 with 1 minute left. Principia would get a stop on defense and then scored a layup to make it a one-point game, 59-58 with 16 seconds left. The Blue Jays would inbound the ball to Ramirez, who would get fouled and sent to the free-throw line with 5 seconds left. The reigning SLIAC player of the year would bury both free throws to ice the game and gave the Blue Jays their eighth straight victory, 61-58.
Annette Ramirez led the Blue Jays with 30 points and 6 rebounds. She would go 10-15 from the field, 3-6 from behind the arc, and 7-8 from the free throw line. Olivia Hixson had 10 points and 2 steals. She would go 2-4 from the three-point line. Caragan Lockard had 6 points and 10 rebounds. Avylina Powell-Qualo had 5 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals.
The Blue Jays will be back in action on Saturday, February 10th when they travel to Illinois to take on Eureka College. The game will tip-off at 1:00 pm from Eureka, Illinois.
