CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's
basketball team dropped the first game of its Big South Conference schedule on
Saturday afternoon, falling to Charleston Southern at the CSU Field House,
76-67.
PC moves to 6-6 on the year and begins conference play at
0-1. Charleston Southern improves to 8-3 and 1-0 in league action.
Mariah Pietrowski (Elizabethton, Tenn.) led the Blue Hose
with 17 points. Kristen Stevens (Pickerington, Ohio) added 12, all on
three-pointers, and Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.) chipped in 11.
Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) nearly reached a double-double,
leading the team in rebounds with 10 and scoring nine points. Shonda Burnside
(Gray Court, S.C.) also dished out a career-high five assists in the effort.
Charleston Southern's Helen Terry led all players with 26
points.
PC outshot the Buccaneers, 54.9 percent (28-of-51) to
Charleston Southern's 53.2 percent (25-of-47) and edged the home team in the
paint, 38-26.The Buccaneers stayed beyond the perimeter for much of the game, attempting
29 shots from beyond the three-point line and converting on 12 of them.
Charleston Southern used the three-pointer to its advantage
in the first half, scoring 18 of its first 21 points beyond the arc before
netting its first two-point bucket with 7:07 left before halftime.
The Blue Hose received scoring throughout its lineup in the
opening period and closed a six-point gap midway through the half with a 7-0 run
fueled by baskets from Pietrowski and Stevens. The two sides swapped the lead nine
times in the first half, but Charleston Southern scored the final seven points
of the frame to go into the locker room at halftime ahead, 34-30.
PC pulled close several times in the second half but could
never re-take the lead. Down by eight several times early in the period,
Stevens and Pietrowski teamed up again to score eight straight of their own and
tie the game at 45-45 with 13:03 remaining.
Charleston Southern broke the deadlock and went up 52-45,
but the Blue Hose continued to fight as Pietrowski and Smith helped PC claw
back within two. A Devin Fothergill (Somerset, Ky.) following a Buccaneer
basket got the Blue Hose back within one with 9:03 left on the clock.
The Buccaneers stayed ahead but PC would pull within two
once more, after Stevens knocked down her fourth three-pointer with just under
four minutes to go. Unfortunately for PC, Charleston Southern used bonus free
throws down the stretch to seal the win, 76-67.
PC stays on the road to face Coastal Carolina in its next
game on Monday at 7 p.m.
