CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team mounted a final-minute comeback bid in its Thursday night Big South Conference game against the visiting Liberty Lady Flames to win its third straight game and knock off the Lady Flames in a thriller, 46-43.
PC improves to 8-17 on the year and 6-10 in the Big South. The Blue Hose stay at home to host High Point on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the first half of a PC hoops doubleheader on ESPN3. Liberty falls to 14-10, 10-5 in the Big South and next plays at Gardner-Webb on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.), who recorded 12 of her game-high 18 points the final 11 minutes of the game, hit a lay-up at 3:09 to knot the game at 38-38. After a Simone Brown free throw gave Liberty a one-point lead, Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.) nailed a layup at 1:42 to give PC the 40-39 lead, its first of the game.
Emily Frazier's lay-up gave Liberty the lead back at 1:19, but after a missed free throw the Blue Hose grabbed the rebound and drew a foul on the other end of the court. Taylor converted the one-and-one to put PC up 42-41 with 1:08 left in the game.
Liberty went back up by one point after Sadalia Ellis collected her own offensive rebound and laid it in to make it 43-42, but Taylor came through again after being fouled and hit two free throws to put PC back on top, 44-43 with 21 seconds remaining. The Blue Hose held on defensively, stopping the Flames on the next possession. After collecting the rebound on a Liberty missed layup, Taylor again was fouled and sent to the line for two free throws. The senior sank both, giving PC a 46-43 advantage with five seconds left in the game, and the Blue Hose again help Liberty defensively on the last shot and took the win.
PC held Liberty to 13 points in the first half and a 30.0 percent shooting percentage on the night, both season-lows for the Lady Flames. Liberty went 1-for-17 from beyond the three-point arc while PC shot 59.1 percent from the floor in the second half.
Smith tallied 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Taylor added 14 points for the Blue Hose as well. Liberty's Ellis led the Lady Flames with 10 points and Katelyn Adams tied Smith with nine rebounds.
Despite missing their first eight shots of the game, the Blue Hose only trailed by eight with just under 11 minutes after Liberty connected on just four-of-11 during that span. Kaycie Reffner (Altoona, Pa.) put PC on the board at the 9:56 mark with a three-pointer to cut the Flame lead to five, 8-3. Reffner finished with six points, as did Noelle Carter (Neptune, N.J.). All of Carter's points came in the second half to help PC over the edge.
Stingy Blue Hose defense held the Flames scoreless the next four minutes, going 0-for-10, with Sherece Smith's lay-up at 5:03 cutting the Liberty margin to three, 8-5.
Liberty hit a scoring drought, going almost seven minutes before an Ellis free throw at 4:48 snapped the streak.
Reffner provided the Blue Hose with just their third basket of the game with her second three of the night to make it a one-point game with 3:18 to go.
Katelyn Adams hit another free throw for the Flames to extend the lead to two, 10-8 with just under two to play, with Smith hitting two free throws to knot the game at 10-10, with 49 seconds to go.
Liberty shooting woes continued with the Flames missing their last 13 of 14 shots from the field, a three-pointer from Regan Miller at the 30-second mark, the only basket. With both Liberty shooting 21% and PC shooting 16%, the half ended with the Flames leading 13-10.
PC tied the game at 15-15 off a Taylor three with 17:19 to go, and again at 17-17 off the Allen Lay-up top open the second half.
Liberty's first basket of the half came at 15:31 to give Liberty the 19-17 lead. It sparked a 6-0 run to extend the Flames lead to six, 23-17, with 14:25 left in regulation.
A quick five-point swing from a Taylor three and Noelle Carter jumper cut the lead to one, 23-22, with 12:21 on the clock.
A back and forth battle ensued with neither team able to break away. Down four, Smith hit back to back shot to know the game at 26-26, with 10:31 left. Ellis's three at 7:10 made it 32-29 in favor of Liberty, but Carter's lay-up just 30 seconds later cut the margin back to one.
The Flames led by five with just under six to play but a Smith three-pointer at 5:16 cut the margin to two, 36-34.
Smith's three-pointer set up the frenzied final minutes and marked the senior's third career trey. Smith's nine rebounds also pushed her to fifth in PC's Division I history, with 375 career boards.
PC's win marked the second over Liberty in program history.
