CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team put together a convincing Big South Conference home win over Campbell on Thursday night, never trailing en route to a 62-51 victory at the Templeton Center.
PC improves to 16-10 on the year and 11-4 in the Big South. The team will host High Point on Saturday at 5 p.m. in an ESPN3 broadcast. Campbell moves to 18-9 and 10-6 in league action. The Camels stay on the road to face Charleston Southern on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Mariah Pietrowski (Elizabethton, Tenn.) turned in 15 points and 10 rebounds the senior center's second double-double of the season and fifth of her career. Shonda Burnside (Gray Court, S.C.) nearly achieved the feat, tallying 14 points and nine rebounds. Karlee Taylor tied for the game-high with 17 points on the night.
Three players set new Division I single-season records in the win.Taylor hit her 69th three-pointer of the season, Dria David (Lawrenceville, Ga.) registered her 86th made free throw and Burnside tallied her 27th blocked shot of 2012-13.
Tonisha Baker led Campbell with 17 points. The Camels' loss snapped a five-game win streak.
The Blue Hose outrebounded the Camels, 40-30, and racked up 16 assists to the visitors' eight. PC also shot 46.8 percent from the field (22-for-47) while holding Campbell to 33.9 percent shooting (20-for-59).
The result marked the fourth win for PC this season without trailing at any point in the game.
The Blue Hose rattled off a 9-0 lead after the opening tip, spurred by four Burnside points and a Taylor three-pointer. Campbell pulling to within six, but the Blue Hose answered by scoring five of their own to take a 27-18 into the final media timeout of the period.
Campbell rallied down the stretch to outscore the home side 8-2 from there, however. Two treys and an Ashley James jumper cut the Camels' deficit to three as PC entered the break ahead, 29-26.
Burnside led all scorers with 10 points at halftime. The Blue Hose shot 50 percent from the field en route to the advantage.
The Blue Hose began the second half in similar fashion to the first. PC came out of the break on a 7-2 run to restore a nine-point lead, though the Camels countered with six straight to get back down three at the 14:27 mark.
Monique Spry and Tonisha Baker each cut PC's lead to one before David drained a three-pointer in front of the PC bench to give the Blue Hose four points of breathing room with 7:36 left. A slick passing play that found Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) alone under the basket put PC up six soon after.
Allen later turned a three-point play in an unusual way, making the first of a pair of free throws before missing the second, grabbing the rebound and putting it back up for two more points.
The Blue Hose continued to feed the ball in the post to Burnside, Pietrowski and Allen. PC finished the night with 24 points in the paint thanks to 14 in the second half.
Two Pietrowski free throws gave PC an 11-point lead with three minutes remaining and, following two Campbell free-throws, a Taylor trey put PC up by 12.
Foul shooting helped turn the tide. Campbell went 5-for-12 from the line in the second half and 7-for-16 overall, finishing the night with a 43.8 percentage.
PC will honor its six seniors prior to Saturday's game against High Point as Burnside, David, Devin Fothergill (Somerset, Ky.), Chelsea Parker (Asheville, N.C.), Mariah Pietrowski (Elizabethton, Tenn.) and Olivia Towers-Solis (Dacula, Ga.) will play their final game at the Templeton Center.
