Second-Half Drought Dooms Trojans

UPLAND, Ind. - The Taylor women's basketball team built a 17-point lead early in the second half against No. 18 Aquinas but a nine minute scoring drought proved too much for the Trojans to overcome as the Saints earned a 65-60 victory in the final game of the Taylor Christmas Classic.

Taylor (5-10) shot 55.6 percent (15-27) from the floor, including a blistering 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) from 3-point range in the opening stanza as the Trojans methodically built a 13-point halftime lead at 44-31. Senior Kelci Freds connected on three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes and scored 17 first-half points to lead the TU offensive attack as Taylor dominated from the opening tip, including amassing a 27-8 advantage on the glass in the first half.

The Trojans appeared poised to put the game away early in the second half when freshman Savannah Bley connected on a jumper from the lane to push the Taylor lead to 54-37 with 13:59 remaining but the 18^th-ranked Saints buckled down on the defensive end, holding Taylor scoreless for nearly nine minutes while utilizing a 16-0 run to pull within one at 54-53 with 6:08 to play. Bley stopped the TU drought with a free throw to push the Taylor lead back to two with 5:20 remaining but Aquinas closed the game on a 12-5 run to earn the come-from-behind victory.

"They really turned up their defensive intensity and made a few adjustments in the second half and we struggled to get our offense back on track," Taylor coach Kelly Packard explained. "We've played close games with two ranked teams now (No. 5 Roosevelt and No. 18 Aquinas) but we haven't been able to get the win so that's the next step for us, learning how to win these games against good teams."

Taelor Sanders, the Taylor Christmas Classic MVP, scored a game-high 23 points to lead Aquinas (12-1) while Freds paced the Trojans with 22 points, including four triples to push her career total to 101.

The Trojans dominated the glass, outrebounding Aquinas 43-25 but poor shooting proved too much for the Trojans to overcome in the second half as TU hit just 6-of-28 (21.4 percent) from the floor, including 1-of-8 (12.5 percent) from beyond the arc. Taylor also committed 22 turnovers that led to 23 Aquinas points while the Saints suffered just nine miscues.

Freds and fellow senior Kelsey Bryant, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals, earned spots on the All-Classic Team.

The game was the final non-conference game for Taylor who now turns its attention to Crossroads League play beginning with a trip to Huntington on Saturday at 1:00 pm.