LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball
team saw its two-game Big South Conference winning streak snapped on Saturday
afternoon with a loss to the Liberty Flames at the Vines Center, 59-39.
PC moves to 8-9 overall and 2-4 in Big South play. Liberty improves
to 10-7 and 5-1.
Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.) led PC with nine points, all
on second-half three-pointers. Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) led the Blue Hose on
the boards with eight rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Mariah Pietrowski (Elizabethton, Tenn.) scored five points
on the day, putting the junior at 803 for her career. With the five, she
becomes the first player in PC's Division I history to score 800 career points
as a member of the Blue Hose.
Noelle Carter (Neptune, N.J.) knocked down her first career
three-pointer later in the game.
The Blue Hose won the turnover battle, 20-17, and scored 19
bench points to Liberty's 10.
Avery Warley led Liberty with 16 points and three blocks.
PC got off to a strong start, keeping the Flames off of the
scoreboard for the first 3:32 of the game and taking a 5-3 lead with 13:34
before halftime. An 8-0 Liberty run, however, put the Flames in front.
The Blue Hose worked to claw away at the deficit but could
not find the basket in the waning few minutes of the first half and Liberty took
advantage, scoring the final six points of the period to take a 27-14 lead into
the locker room at halftime.
PC held the Flames to 10-of-27 shooting for the first half
for a 37 percent clip, but the Flames' 20 points in the paint and 26-14
rebounding advantage helped the home team move ahead.
Pietrowski scored the first two points of the second half
and Taylor cut PC's deficit back to 13 after five Liberty points. Treys from Devin
Fothergill (Somerset, Ky.) and Taylor helped keep the Blue Hose in the hunt and
a Smith tip-in made the score 42-29 with 10 minutes remaining.
Liberty's lead swelled to 17 on a basket by Warley and free
throws from Devon Brown, but a Kristen Stevens (Pickerington, Ohio) three-pointer
cut Liberty's advantage to its smallest margin for the rest of the game. The
Blue Hose worked to find the basket, but the Flames rode its lead to the win,
59-39.
PC stays on the road for its next game, a Monday night contest
at Radford in Radford, Va. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
