NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team held Charleston Southern to 28 points in the first half of its Tuesday night Big South Conference road matchup, but the Buccaneers pulled away in the second half to win, 68-50.
PC moves to 4-15 overall and 2-8 in the Big South. The Blue Hose hit the road next to play at Gardner-Webb on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Charleston Southern improves to 8-10 on the year, 4-5 in the Big South and hosts Gardner-Webb on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.) scored a team-high 17 points for the Blue Hose. Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) posted her second career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Aianna Kelly (Newport News, Va.) chipped in with 10 points as well.
Charleston Southern led 28-25 at halftime before outscoring the visitors 40-25 in the second for the victory. Erin Bratcher scored 13 of her game-leading 22 points in the second period.
PC led for much of the first half, taking a six-point lead midway through the frame on a wide-open Kasey Hobbie (Spring Lake, N.J.) three-pointer in the corner. Both teams shot over 40 percent in the first and Charleston Southern eventually took the lead at the 7:44 mark after two straight Erin Bratcher treys and a Tatum Jarvis jumper.
Buckets from Taylor, Noelle Carter (Neptune, N.J.) and Kelly kept PC tied or ahead until the Buccaneers broke a 20-20 tie with an 8-2 run. Taylor then knocked down her third three-pointer of the half to make it a 28-25 game heading into the locker room at halftime.
Eleven first-half turnovers plagued the Blue Hose but the visitors outrebounded the Bucs at the break (14-12) to slow down a team that made nearly half of its shots (47.8 percent).
Charleston Southern raced out to an 11-2 run to start the second half all thanks to Fowler and Bratcher. PC chipped away at the lead and cut the gap to five on buckets by Kelly and Allen before another Buccaneer 18-5 run made it a 59-41 game at 6:45.
The Buccaneers held PC at bay down the stretch. PC highlights included Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) finishing an old-fashioned three-point play and Taylor draining her fifth trey of the day to close the scoring with two seconds left.
