CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team stomped on the gas early and never let up, rolling past Charleston Southern for a 71-40 Big South Conference win at the Templeton Center on Tuesday night.
PC improves to 10-8 overall and 5-4 in the Big South. The Blue Hose will next travel to Winthrop for a Saturday afternoon matchup at 1 p.m. Charleston Southern moves to 3-17 overall, 0-9 in the Big South and plays at Longwood on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) scored a game-high 17 points and led PC with six rebounds. All 12 Blue Hose scored on the evening, including a career-high 12 points from Tia Mason (San Antonio, Texas) on a 5-for-6 effort. PC shot at a 54.9 percent (28-for-51) clip on the evening and used 40 points in the paint to the Buccaneers' 16.
PC's 31-point margin of victory matched a school record for the largest margin of victory in a Big South game, tying a 71-40 win over UNC Asheville on February 2, 2013.
The Blue Hose dominated the first half, leading by as many as 22 points down the stretch. PC shot 61.5 percent in the opening period and used a 19-4 run that lasted nearly 10 minutes to widen the gap.
Allen led PC at the break with 11 points, aided in part by her 8-for-11 shooting effort on the night. The redshirt junior hit a hook shot to give PC a double-digit lead at 16-6 and the home side did not let up. Charleston Southern found themselves mired in an 0-for-12 drought that lasted over six minutes and a Mason's first bucket inside made it a 28-8 game. Charleston Southern looked to narrow the edge in the closing minutes, but PC fought back with points from Allen and Cortney Storey (Fayetteville, Tenn.) to take a 20-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
PC maintained its 20-plus-point lead for most of the second half, eventually pushing it to 30. Janie Miles drained a three-pointer from the corner for a 53-23 edge midway through the period and the Blue Hose continued to battle. The Blue Hose shot 48.0 percent in the second half and Mason scored eight points in the frame.
PC extended its advantage to 37 points with 45 seconds left, the team's largest lead of the game. The team tallied 18 assists on the night and grabbed 12 steals.
