Presbyterian College vs. Liberty
Saturday, February 14 - 5 p.m.
Templeton Center - Clinton, S.C.
Live Stats | Live Video
PC Game Notes
CLINTON, S.C. – Presbyterian College kicks off a Valentine's Day doubleheader on Saturday at 5 p.m. when the Blue Hose host Liberty at the Templeton Center. The first-place Flames come to town with their eyes on their sixth straight win, while the Blue Hose hope to defend their 10-1 record after a decisive 78-56 win over Coastal Carolina on Tuesday in which freshman Cortney Storey scored a program Division I record 27 points. The game marks the first of two at Templeton, as the PC men's team follows against Radford at 7:30 p.m.
Liberty holds a 12-2 record over the Blue Hose in the all-time series after a 59-42 victory in Lynchburg on January 5. The Blue Hose have earned both of their victories in the last five meetings and will look to split the season series for the third straight year. PC's first-ever win against Liberty came at the Vines Center on January 3, 2012 with a thrilling 51-49 result. Aianna Kelly led PC with 15 points in January's game, followed by Rebecca Walker's 11 points. The Blue Hose shot 30.2 percent in that game and went an uncharacteristic 4-for-18 from three-point range.
Liberty enters Saturday with the Big South's best record at 14-1. The Flames have won six in a row and their lone loss came at Winthrop on January 20, 63-58. Liberty has beaten League opponents by an average of 16.2 points and boasts the Big South's best scoring defense, free throw percentage, field goal percentage defense, three point field goal percentage defense and rebounding offense and defense in Big South games. Karly Buer leads the team with 12.0 points per game while Ashley Rininger averages 11.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
Over the last five games, Cortney Storey leads the team with 13.4 points and 2.0 steals per game. Aianna Kelly paces PC on the boards with 4.8 rebounds per game while Janie Miles averages 3.0 assists per game.
Freshman Cortney Storey scored a PC Division I record 27 points as the Blue Hose blew past visiting Coastal Carolina on Tuesday, 78-56. Storey went 10-for-11 from the floor and her 27 points surpassed the previous record of 26, shared by Mariah Pietrowski (March 5, 2012 vs. Charleston Southern) and Amanda Mills (December 18, 2008 vs. Stetson). Her total marks the most for a PC women's basketball player since Amy Jones scored 38 against USC Upstate on December 17, 2006 and her 10 field goals and 90.9 shooting percentage also tied school Division I records.
Freshman guard Cortney Storey was named the Big South Conference Freshman of the Week, the league announced Monday. Storey helped lead PC to a 78-59 win at home over High Point last Thursday with 15 points, going 3-for-3 in the first half to help PC build a lead that the team would not relinquish. The freshman guard was PC's high scorer in Saturday's close loss to Radford on the road, scored a career-high 18 points–15 of those points coming in the second half. She joins Janie Miles (12/8) as the two PC players to earn Big South Freshman of the Week honors this season.
PC's Thursday win over High Point moved PC's home record to 10-1 at the Templeton Center and 7-1 in the Big South. The Blue Hose hold opponents to 31.3 percent shooting at the Templeton Center and average a rebounding margin of +8.3 The team has maintained a winning record at home in each of the last three seasons, beginning in 2011-12.
PC shot nearly 50 percent in its road game on Saturday afternoon, but the host Radford Highlanders took advantage of a season-high 26 fouls to win, going 27-for-34 on free-throws–all season-highs for Blue Hose opponents.
Keyonna Allen matched a career-high 22 points and set a new school Division I shooting record to power PC over High Point on Thursday night at the Templeton Center, 78-59. Allen went 10-for-11 from the floor, tying a school Division I record with 10 field goals. Her 90.9 shooting percentage set a new school D-I marker (minimum of eight) and her 22 points tie a career-high, previously set 364 days prior at Radford.
The Blue Hose boast the nation's sixth-ranked scoring defense, holding opponents to an average of 51.8 points per game. PC held Campbell to 42 points on January 27 and NC Central to 33 on December 20.
PC also ranks ninth in the country in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 34.3 percent. PC has held 21 of its 25 opponents to under 40 percent from the field this season after holding Coastal Carolina to 37.0 percent (30-for-56) on Tuesday for a 13-8 record in those games. The team accomplished that feat 22 times last season with a 9-13 record, allowing over 40 percent only eight times. The Blue Hose also rank 20th in the country in three-point field goal defense, allowing only 26.8 percent of shots from distance.
The Blue Hose have gone a combined 29-for-33 from the free-throw line in their last two games against Radford and Coastal Carolina, averaging 87.9 percent.
PC takes a weeklong break from competition before traveling to Longwood for a Saturday road test at 2 p.m. in Farmville, Va.
