CONWAY, S.C. – The seventh-seeded Presbyterian College women's basketball team used a late-game run to power past the No. 10 Longwood Lancers in the first round of the 2014 VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Championships at the HTC Center on Tuesday afternoon, 54-40.
PC closed the game on an 18-4 run to break a 36-36 tie with 7:19 to go en route to the victory.
PC improves to 12-18 and will take on No. 2 Liberty on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals. Longwood ends its season at 8-22. The win marks PC's first at the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Championship and the first postseason victory in the Division I era.
Defense reigned for the Blue Hose. PC held Longwood to only 13 made field goals on a 25.5 percent shooting, a season-low tally for PC opponents that included a 0-for-8 performance from three-point range in the second half. PC made the most of its chances, going 45.9 percent from the floor, and held the Lancers to only seven points for the final 13:45 of game action.
Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) led the Blue Hose with 16 points and nine rebounds. Aianna Kelly (Newport News, Va.) also chipped in 13 points and nine boards while Longwood received the bulk of its offense from Raven Williams and Daeisha Brown, who scored 14 points apiece.
The Blue Hose defense stymied Longwood throughout the opening half, holding the Lancers to 25 percent shooting at the break. The first half saw a back-and-forth battle, with each team putting together small runs and PC scoring the final three points of the half to take a 24-22 halftime lead.
Kelly led PC with nine points and five rebounds in the first half. Longwood went on a 5-0 run before the Blue Hose answered with six straight points of their own—five coming from Kelly. Allen also delivered a strong opening half, scoring eight points to go along with four rebounds.
The freshman Kelly finished an old-fashioned three point play with 4:29 left to give PC the lead, and advantage which the Blue Hose retook on three straight Allen points in the final 1:08.
Raven Williams kept Longwood close with three treys midway through the half to boast 12 points at the break.
Kelly built on PC's lead with the first bucket after halftime, but Longwood's Brown scored five straight points help Longwood take a 31-26 lead into the first media timeout.
A pair of Allen free throws capped a 5-0 run to tied the game at 33-33 at the 11:39 mark. Allen gave PC the lead back by finishing her own putback and drawing a foul to put PC ahead, 36-35. Karlee Taylor (Asheville, N.C.) broke a 36-36 tie by hitting a leaner in the lane and draining a three-pointer to prompt a Longwood timeout at 6:34. Two Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) free throws then gave the Blue Hose seven points of breathing room.
The seniors Taylor and Smith came up big for the Blue Hose in the second half. Taylor led PC with nine points and Smith added seven and three assists in the final period.
After a Longwood free throw broke the 7-0 run, Smith hit a jumper late in the shot clock for an eight point PC lead. From there, Allen added another two points and PC closed out the game on free throws. Kaycie Reffner (Altoona, Pa.) iced the result on a layup with 49 seconds to go.
