GEORGETOWN, Texas – A hot shooting Schreiner squad took an early lead and held on until the end to give Southwestern their first home conference loss, 79-69 on Friday night.
Schreiner was blazing in the first five minutes to lead by ten, 14-4. Southwestern steadily battled back and pulled within seven, 32-25, by the time the halftime buzzer sounded.
Southwestern held Schreiner to just 33.3% from the floor and shot 39.3% themselves, but the Mountaineers got 21 points from beyond the arc after shooting 46.7% while SU managed just 1-11.
As the second half got underway, Schreiner's shooting cooled but they attacked the offensive glass to push their lead to 13, 43-30, with 15:22 to go.
The Mountaineers' lead ballooned to nearly 20 before the Pirates found a new gear. Chelsea Leeder's free throws cut the lead to single digits, 54-45 with just over eight minutes to play. Schreiner stayed just ahead and pushed the lead back to 13, 64-51 with 4:05 on clock, dimming the Pirates hope of a comeback.
Southwestern had other plans, however, starting with a three-point play by Jordan Owens. Cara Sheffer's three cut the lead to 10, 59-69 with two minutes remaining and Leeder converted a turnover into two points to pull within eight, 69-61.
Lindsey Peterson got a big putback with 50 ticks left to push Schreiner's lead back to nine, but Valerie Logan drained two free throws to pull the Pirates back within seven, 72-65 with 45 seconds remaining. Southwestern just couldn't get the defensive stop they needed as Schreiner made just enough from the free throw line to close out the game.
Southwestern shot just 39.7% from the field and an uncharacteristic 18.2% from three point range. Schreiner was held to 39.1% from the floor and 36% from three point range, but out-rebounded the Pirates 45-40.
Leeder led the way with 21 points for Southwestern while Owens added 15 and Madison Eschle 12. Schreiner's Kelsie Jackson led all scorers with 26 points.
The loss drops the Pirates to 4-9 on the year and 0-2 in the SCAC while Schreiner improves to 6-7 overall and 1-1 in conference action. SU remains at home to face Texas Lutheran University on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.