CONWAY, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team dropped a Big South Conference road game on Sunday at Coastal Carolina, falling to the Chanticleers in a 57-50 result.
PC moves to 10-18 on the year and 8-11 in the Big South. The Blue Hose return home to wrap up the regular season on Senior Night against Charleston Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m. Coastal Carolina improves to 13-14, 9-9 in league action and plays at Gardner-Webb on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The loss snaps a five-game win streak for the Blue Hose.
The Blue Hose outscored Coastal Carolina 27-23 in the second half and cut a 16-point deficit to just one, but could not complete the comeback after finding themselves in a 34-23 halftime hole.
Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) led all players with 20 points on a 9-for-13 shooting performance, just two points shy of her career-high. She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Coastal Carolina raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first two and a half minutes, eventually stretching the gap to double-digits. A Kaycie Reffner (Altoona, Pa.) three-pointer pulled PC to within seven, but the Chanticleer lead yo-yoed between nine and 11 until the midway point of the half.
A Megan Pittman trey put Coastal ahead by 12 and the Chanticleers would take a 34-23 advantage into the locker room.
Allen scored half of her points in the opening half, matching Coastal's AJ Jordan with 10 points. The Blue Hose also shot 41.7 percent through the first 20 minutes but couldn't match the Chanticleers' output.
Coastal built on its lead to start the second half, as Katelyn Connor and Alexx Puckett helped the home side to a 16-point lead in the first five minutes. PC began to claw back, however, scoring 11 straight points to slash into the Chanticleer lead.
The run began with a Reffner trey and continued on a Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) layup. Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.) converted a layup before Allen went inside for two. Allen struck again at the 10:44 mark to pull PC within five, 43-38.
Faced with another seven-point deficit a few minutes later, an Aianna Kelly (Newport News, Va.) layup helped PC back to five. Allen knocked down a jumper before Kelly drained two free throws to make it a 47-46 game with 6:12 left on the clock.
Unfortunately for the Blue Hose, the Chanticleers began to pull away. Six unanswered Coastal points pushed the lead back to seven. PC would get back to five on a Taylor jumper at 1:16, but could come no closer as Coastal held on for the 57-50 win.
Puckett led Coastal Carolina with 15 points and nine rebounds.
