GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - After missing the last four games due to injury, junior
Ellie Toney came out swinging as she scored a career-high 27 points in a 69-66 loss to visiting Purdue Northwest on Thursday night. Toney had a very efficient game shooting the ball going 11-for-17 including 4-for-8 from behind the arc. She also finished with five points and tied for the team high with three assists.
The game featured seven ties and eight lead changes. Neither team led by more than seven points as Purdue Northwest led 34-27 with 1:30 left in the first half and Davenport led 18-11 with 35 seconds to go in the first quarter. Davenport led 18-13 at the end of the first quarter as Toney scored seven points. Purdue Northwest took care of the ball with just two turnovers in the opening quarter and got six points from Alyssa Cole.
The second quarter belonged to the Pride with a 23-14 advantage to take a 36-32 lead into the halftime locker room. Purdue Northwest hit 50 percent (8-for-16) of their shots in the quarter and were 5-for-6 at the free throw line. Davenport shot 38.5 percent from the floor including 2-for-6 from behind the arc. Purdue Northwest led for 8:09 of the first half compared to 7:43 for the Panthers.
The Panthers eventually would come back and tie the game at 46 with 4:49 left in the third quarter and
Laynie Meredith hit a pair of free throws. Davenport would go on to score the last five points of the third quarter to take a 53-48 lead and Toney hit an NBA triple to end the quarter.
DU would hold onto the lead until 6:43 left in the game as the Pride went ahead 57-55 on a triple by Sophia Remmel.
Hannah Schroeder buried a corner three-pointer with 6:05 to play, but the Pride got a Cole basket with 5:54 remaining and did not trail the rest of the game. The Pride led 67-61 with 1:30 to go, but Toney calmly sank a three-pointer at the top of the key to cut the deficit in half. Toney scored again in the paint on the next possession to make it 67-66 with 38 seconds to play. DU played great defense and forced a shot clock violation with four seconds to play. They called a timeout to advance the ball to midcourt, but the Pride had several fouls to give and used one right away. On the inbounds under their own basket,
Kayla Covington was called for a shove to free space and Cole nailed a pair of free throws for the 69-66 final score. DU turned it over with two seconds left to prevent one last desperation shot.
Lillee Gustafson led the Panthers with 12 rebounds in her first game back after missing two due to injury.
Isabel Lindo added 15 points going 6-for-12 from the floor including 3-for-5 from deep. One telling stat was points off turnovers as the Pride led that category by an 18-5 margin.
