RADFORD, Va. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball
team picked up its fifth straight win in style on Thursday night, handling
Radford at the Dedmon Center in a 57-40 victory.
PC improves to 18-10 on the year and 13-4 in Big South Conference
play. The Blue Hose end the regular season on Saturday at Longwood in a 2 p.m.
matinee tip-off. Radford moves to 13-13 and 8-9 in league action and will host
Gardner-Webb on Saturday at 2 p.m.
PC held Radford to a season-low point total in its
first-ever win at the Dedmon Center, snapping a five-game losing streak at the
building. The result also matches PC's longest winning streak of the season and gives head coach Ronny Fisher his 50th win at PC.
Senior Shonda Burnside (Gray Court, S.C.) set a new career
high with six assists on a big night for several Blue Hose. Mariah Pietrowski
led PC by scoring 14 points and grabbing a game-high eight rebounds. Dria David
(Lawrenceville, Ga.) added 12 points while Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.)
chipped in 11 points as well.
Radford shot 29.6 percent (16-for-54) while PC enjoyed a
57.1 percent effort (24-for-42) from the field, buoyed by a 66.7 percent first
half.
The Blue Hose turned
around a slow start to the tune of a 30-16 halftime lead. Radford scored the
first four points of the game and held a lead early on, but PC turned the tide
and held the Highlanders scoreless for the final 5:26 during a 17-4 run to the
break.
Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) gave PC its first
short-lived lead before Taylor took it back for good on her first three-pointer
of the game.
The visitors pounded the ball inside by scoring 16 points in
the paint. Pietrowski put PC up by five with less than six minutes left on
layup thanks to a Burnside pass. Burnside continued to deliver offense, scoring
PC's next two points before finding Taylor on the next possession for a
wide-open three that made the score 26-16.
Pietrowski and Burnside each scored a bucket to push PC's
lead to 14 at the break. Pietrowski finished the half with 10 points as the Blue
Hose went 12-for-18 from the floor, shooting at a 66.7 percent clip. Ten of the
team's 12 first half field goals came via assist.
PC never let off the gas in the second half, leading by as
many as 26 midway through the period.
Taylor began the half by knocking down a contested trey at
the top of the arc, as sign of things to come for PC.
Radford ended its scoring drought from the first half with
an early bucket, notching its first points in a stretch that spanned 7:50. The
points started a four-point run for the home side only to see PC answer with
five of its own.
The Blue Hose continued to roll, reaching a 24-point lead on
a slick lefthanded layup from Taylor to finish a drive.
Burnside also contributed a highlight reel series. The
senior forward blocked three shots in 12 seconds, swatting down a Victoria
Hamilton jumper before sending back two Breshara Gordon buckets.
Taryn Richard (Palm City, Fla.) converted a bucket as PC
closed out the win.
