CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team earned its first Big South Conference win of the season in impressive fashion on Saturday, taking down the visiting Radford Highlanders by a 70-45 margin at the Templeton Center.
PC improves to 3-11 overall and 1-4 in the Big South. The Blue Hose next hit the road to face High Point on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Radford slips to 2-13 on the year, 0-6 in league action and will host Winthrop on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Blue Hose jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, surviving an early second half run from Radford to lead by as many as 28 late in the game. PC also shot a season-best 52.9 percent from the floor and made eight of its 15 three-point field goal attempts for a season-high percentage in that category as well.
Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.) led PC with 15 points on a six-for-eight shooting performance. Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) added 14 points while Kasey Hobbie (Spring Lake, N.J.) posted a season-high 12 and Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
The Blue Hose topped Radford in nearly every statistical category. The home side outrebounded the Highlanders, 32 to 25, and tallied 17 assists to Radford's eight. Almost half of PC's offense came down low, scoring 32 points in the paint to Radford's 16 and turning to the Blue Hose bench for 25 points.
PC raced to a quick start, leading 12-4 through the first 7:26 of play on a Megan Schaaf (Ellicott City, Md.) jumper. A Hobbie three-pointer five minutes later put the Blue Hose ahead by 11 and five straight points eventually gave PC 15 points of breathing room.
Ahead 29-17 at the 3:16 mark, the Blue Hose closed the half with nine straight points—five from Taylor—to take a 38-17 led into the locker room at halftime.
PC's sizable lead helped the team survive an 11-2 Radford run to start the second half and PC answered with a big run of its own, rattling off a 16-4 run that gave the Blue Hose a 56-32 advantage midway through the frame. Six different Blue Hose scored during the stretch, including two three-pointers from Kasey Hobbie.
Three straight Aianna Kelly (Newport News, Va.) points bumped the lead to 27 and the lead swelled to 28 with 3:22 left on the clock en route to the eventually 70-45 victory.
Kelly dished out five assists, one shy of her career-high. Smith also picked up five assists as the Blue Hose showed off some slick passing down low and around the perimeter to set up open looks.
After a rough day from the line on Thursday, PC responded by hitting eight of its 11 free throws on Saturday afternoon.
Ayana Avery led Radford with 15 points and shared the team lead with six rebounds.
