SPARTANBURG, S.C. -
Presbyterian College women's basketball closed out the 2009 calendar year with
a 71-52 loss to USC Upstate in Spartanburg's Hodge Center. The Blue Hose now turn focus to conference
play which opens on Saturday afternoon at Winthrop.
PC (1-11) was led in scoring by the duo of Amanda Mills and
Dria David who each posted 11 points in the contest. Mills went a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity
stripe on the afternoon. David grabbed seven
rebounds and had two assists.
USC Upstate's (6-5) Lesley Daniel led all scorers with 12
points off the bench for the Spartans.
The Blue Hose went out to a four point lead early before the
Blue Hose went on a run of 8:23 without a point between the 13:28 and 5:05
marks. The Spartans took a 17-point
halftime lead into the locker room. PC
shot 22% from the field in the first half and tallied 21 turnovers to Upstate's
36% showing from the field. From the
free throw line, PC was a perfect 8-8 in the opening 20 minutes.
PC kept the margin steady early in the second half, but the
Spartans improved strung the lead out to 25 points with just over two minutes
left.
Chelsea Parker scored a career high six points while Lea
Smith posted eight points. Top
rebounding honors went to Mariah Pietrowski who tied a career high with 11
boards.
Overall, PC shot 83% from the free throw line (20-of-24) to
outpace the Spartans from the stripe.
The Blue Hose also out-rebounded the Spartans 38-35 and scored 14
second-chance points to Upstate's 13.
The Blue Hose open up the New Year with the season's first
league game on Saturday night against Winthrop.
PC will face the Eagles starting at 4 p.m. in Rock Hill for the first
Big South tilt of the season.
