Presbyterian College vs. Gardner-Webb
Tuesday, December 2 - 7 p.m.
Templeton Center - Clinton, S.C.
WATCH: Big South Network (FREE)
PC Game Notes
CLINTON, S.C. - Presbyterian College women's basketball opens Big South Conference play on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when the Blue Hose host Gardner-Webb at the Templeton Center. Both teams enter with a 3-3 record and PC hopes to keep up its momentum, winning three of its last four and both games at home this season. The Blue Hose handed South Carolina State its first loss of the season on Saturday, coming away with a 46-33 result. PC's smothering defense has helped earn three wins as the team currently leads the nation in scoring defense (43.8) and ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.281). Gardner-Webb will look to win back-to-back games for the first time in 2014-15 after handling Wofford on Saturday, 65-60.
The game will mark the 42nd in a series that began in 1986. PC leads 28-13 thanks in part to seven and 10-game winning streaks in the 1990s, but the Runnin' Bulldogs have won the last three. Gardner-Webb squeezed past PC with a 54-52 win at Templeton Center in last season's first game before edging the Blue Hose in January, 59-56. Aianna Kelly scored 10 points in the second game at Paul Porter Arena and Keyonna Allen added nine points and 10 rebounds. The loss proved a turning point for PC, who went on to win nine of its next 11 games to end the regular season.
Gardner-Webb brings an identical 3-3 record to Clinton following a Saturday win at Wofford, 65-60. The Runnin' Bulldogs also boast wins over Montreat (118-37) and NC Central (73-53) but fell to Davidson by a single point on November 20, 68-67. Jessica Heilig (13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds per game) and Candace Brown (13.5 points and 7.0 rebounds) pace Gardner-Webb, who ranks in the Big South's top three in scoring offense, three-point field goal percentage and rebounding offense.
PC resumes Big South Conference action on Saturday at High Point in a 2 p.m. matchup before taking a week off for final exams. The team then hosts Southern Wesleyan on Monday, December 15 in its annual Education Day game at 11:30 a.m.
PC snapped a two-game program losing streak to SC State with a smothering 46-33 win on Saturday. SC State's 20.3 shooting percentage (12-for-59), 33 points and 14 points in a half marked season-lows for PC foes. The Blue Hose last held an opponent to 33 points with a 50-30 win over Coastal Carolina on December 29, 2012. Freshman guard Cortney Storey led PC in scoring for the first time with 10 points.
The Blue Hose boast the nation's top scoring defense through their first six games, holding opponents to an average of 43.8 points per game. Only one opponent has cracked the 50-point barrier with VCU's 55 on November 16 and PC has held foes to 45, 44, 45 and 33 in the three games since.
PC ranks second in the country in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 28.1 percent of their shots. The Blue Hose held South Carolina State to 20.3 shooting on Saturday, allowing only 12 field goals on 59 attempts. PC has held all six of its opponents to under 40 percent from the field this season. The team accomplished that feat 22 times last season with a 9-13 record, allowing over 40 percent only eight times.
Redshirt junior Keyonna Allen posted 14 points and 15 rebounds on Wednesday for her fourth career double-double and PC's second of the season. Freshman Allie Wager recorded her first double-double performance with an impressive 20 points and 15 rebounds against Allen on November 18.
Keyonna Allen leads the Big South in field goal percentage, shooting at a 70.3 percent clip (26-for-37). Allen went 3-for-5 on Saturday for six points and paces the Blue Hose in scoring with 9.8 points per game. Out of six games, she has led the team in points three times, blocks three times and rebounds twice. Allen went a perfect 7-for-7 in a win over Western Carolina and went 6-for-8 against Xavier on Wednesday. The redshirt junior enters the week with a career shooting percentage of 51.3 percent.
PC enters the weekend holding opponents to 19.8 percent of their three-point field goal attempts, good enough for the top spot in the Big South Conference and 11th in the nation. Allen went 1-for-18 against the Blue Hose and PC held Xavier to 4-for-19 on Wednesday night.
The Blue Hose earned their first-ever win over Western Carolina last Saturday, 51-44. PC broke a 23-23 halftime tie behind Keyonna Allen's team-high 15 points, 10 of which came in the second half. Allen forward scored six of PC's final eight points before Rebecca Walker and Noelle Carter each grabbed crucial steals in the final minute to preserve the win. The Catamounts had taken the first two meetings in the all-time series.
PC has played seven players this season in their first season of collegiate basketball. Those seven (Janie Miles, Allie Wagner, Cortney Storey, Tia Mason, Elizabeth Landers, Jameka Braden and Kendra Talley) have contributed 47.5 of the team's points and 37.1 percent of the team's rebounds.
Aianna Kelly made a splash in her rookie season and has continued over the first four games of 2014-15. The sophomore currently leads the team in rebounds (7.7) while ranking third in points (7.0) and second in field goals made (2.8) per game. She is one of two players (with Cortney Storey) to start all six games.
Head coach Ronny Fisher returns for his seventh season as head coach. Fisher was named the Big South Conference's Coach of the Year in 2012-13, PC's first coach in any sport to achieve that honor. He ranks third in program history with 66 wins, standing seven away from both Randy Randall (1977-84) and Byron Rucker (1984-89) in second.
