The Presbyterian College women's basketball team held a halftime lead, but couldn't overcome a strong second half by Winthrop and fell on senior night, 53-60. PC drops to 15-14, 10-10 BSC, while the Eagles move to 17-12, 13-7 BSC. The Blue Hose honored seniors Noelle Carter, Kasey Hobbie and Keyonna Allen before the game, along with senior manager Brianna Knott.
PC was lead by Allen with her 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Janie Miles chipped in ten points. Winthrop's Schaquilla Nunn led the visitors with 21 points and recorded four blocks, and Erica Williams tallied 18 points. The Eagles out-rebounded the Blue Hose 37-33, and shot 41.3% for the game to PC's 36.8%. Both teams will next head to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for the Big South Conference tournament. Play starts on Tuesday, March 3, and both teams await the final tournament seeding.
The Blue Hose jumped out to a 7-2 lead with a three pointer from Cortney Storey at 16:05, but Winthrop immediately answered on a layup from Nunn. The teams traded points until Winthrop went on a small 6-0 run on back-to-back three pointers to take a one point lead, 14-13 with 11:38 remaining in the first half. PC responded with two consecutive layups to go up by three points, and would extend their lead over the next three minutes to six, 24-18 after another trey by Storey at 6:04.
The Eagles fought back with six straight points to tie the game 24-24 with 4:21 left in the first half, but the Blue Hose used a layup from Carter to regain a lead they would hold onto for the remainder of the half. PC led by five points, 29-24 after an Allen layup with 2:23 left, and after the Eagles scored three points in the final minutes, went to the locker room holding a 29-27 lead at the break.
Winthrop opened the second half with a 7-0 run to take a 34-29 lead before Miles scored PC's first points with a three pointer at 17:16. The two teams traded baskets, with Allen's layup at 15:35 bringing PC back within two points, 34-36. Three minutes later Miles hit her second trey of the half to put PC back on top, 38-36 with 11:44 remaining.
Winthrop responded with a layup at 10:06 to again tie the game, but Carter immediately sank a jumper on the next possession to give the lead back to PC, 40-38. The Eagles, however, used six straight free throws to take a four point lead at 9:16. Allen hit a layup to cut Winthrop's lead to two, 42-44 with 8:33 remaining in the game, but the Eagles went on a 6-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to build an eight point advantage, 50-42 with 6:01 left.
Helped by a 47.4 shooting percentage over the course of the second half, Winthrop led by as many as 10 points with just under five minutes to play, but Allen chipped in four straight points to pace PC. Trailing by six with 58 seconds remaining, Storey hit the first of two free throws to put PC within five, 51-56, but that was as close as the Blue Hose could get, and Winthrop used three free throws down the stretch to take the 60-53 win.
