The Blackburn College Women's Basketball Team jumped out to a 11-3 early but could not sustain the momentum in dropping a 71-54 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest to Spalding University on Saturday afternoon in Carliniville.

Spalding withstood the initial Blackburn rally and took a 36-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.· Blackburn Freshman, Briana Rae led the Beavers in scoring with 12 points. Rae also added 11 rebounds to join Senior Andrea Kleinsorge to lead all rebounders.·Spalding ended up winning the battle of the boards by a 57-44 margin.· For Spalding Kerstin Hayes led all scorers with 30 points on the afternoon knocking down five three-pointers and she was also 9 of 9 from the free throw line.

After the game and before the men's contest Kleinsorge was honored in the senior day celebration.

In the game Blackburn shot 28 percent on 15 of 54 from the field while Spalding shot 34 percent on 23 of 68 shooting.· Blackburn turned the ball over 19 times compared to Spalding's 17.·

Blackburn drops to 0-24 on the season and 0-15 in SLIAC play while Spalding improves to 13-11 overall and 9-6 in the league.

Blackburn will finish the season on Tuesday night as they host Principia College.