ELSAH, Ill. – The Mississippi University for Women men's basketball team faced off versus future St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) foe Principia College and came out on the short end of a 64-59 score. The loss dropped the Owls to 2-2 on the year, while the Panthers – picked fifth in the SLIAC pre-season poll – improved to 3-1.
 
The W is slated to join the SLIAC in 2023-24.
 
The bout was a series of mini-comeback attempts for The W, especially in the second half. In the opening segment, the Owls enjoyed their largest lead of the night at 15-9, on a Brye Hopkins layup at 12:40. After that, there were three lead changes until Principia took a 25-24 advantage into the halftime locker room.
 
As it turned out, it was a lead that the Panthers would not relinquish the rest of the evening.
 
In the second stanza, MUW found itself clawing its way back into contention three different times. An 8-1 run to open the second half put PC ahead, 33-25. The W returned the favor with jumper by Tyson Smithey preceding five straight points from Chris Evans that drew the Owls to within a single point, 35-34, and prompted a Panthers' timeout.
 
Principia came out of the stoppage and quickly built its largest advantage – 11 points – thanks to 15-5 spurt over the next seven minutes. But that did not seem to faze MUW, scoring eight unanswered points, the last five by Andrew Shepherd, to get to within a single possession, 50-47.
 
As if on cue, Principia flipped the script and reeled off seven unanswered points of its own to post a double-digit lead with four minutes to play, 57-47. An offensive rebound and put-back basket by Hopkins got The W to within four, 61-56, but the Owls would get no closer as their final rally fell short.
 
MUW's Thomas Wright shared team high-point honors with Hopkins at 11 points. Wright was 4-of-7 from the floor and also grabbed seven rebounds. Hopkins finished the night with 10 points, as the third Owl with double-digit point totals, along with seven boards.
 
Junior guard Milos Zeradjanin matched Wright's 11-point effort.
 
Shon Wright topped all players with eight rebounds, but couldn't seem to find his offensive touch with six points. Shepherd and Evans each tallied seven points. Charlie Werner added five points and Smithey two to round out the MUW offense.