Women's Basketball 1/14/2021 3:00:00 PM Rob Low

PC Returns Home to Face Campbell this Weekend

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team plays its first home series of 2021 on Friday and Saturday as it welcomes reigning Big South champion Campbell to the Templeton Center.

Matchup: Presbyterian (6-4, 5-3) vs Campbell (6-5, 3-3)
Date: Friday and Saturday, January 15-16
Time: 6:00 pm / 4:00 pm
Site: Templeton Center (Clinton, S.C.)
Live Video: Game 1 Game 2
Live Stats: Game 1 Game 2
Twitter: @bluehosewbb

Notes

Opening Tip...
Following a 4-2 mark on its six-game road swing, Presbyterian returns home for the first time in nearly a month for a two-game conference series against reigning Big South champion Campbell.

Last Time Out...
The Blue Hose are coming off of their first series sweep of 2020-21, having won a pair at Upstate last weekend. In the opener, PC shook off a slow start to overtake the Spartans in the second half and improve to 4-0 in the opening games of Big South series this season. Trinity Johnson topped the Blue Hose with 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. The next day, PC broke a 30-30 tie with a 14-0 run in the third quarter, keyed by back-to-back triples from Maleia Bracone, who had a career-high 18 points. Tionna Carter tallied a season-best 20 points, while Jade Compton collected her second double-double of the season, scoring 11 points and adding a career-high 15 rebounds.

Scouting the Camels...
Campbell split its conference series against Longwood last weekend, and has lost three of its last four since beginning Big South play with a sweep of Winthrop. Shy Tuelle paces the Camels in scoring at 12.3 points per game. This weekend's series will be a battle between two of the best defenses in the conference, as CU leads the Big South in both scoring defense (53.6 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (.350). PC ranks second in the league in both categories, yielding just 56.9 ppg and a .360 field goal percentage.

Familiar Faces...
CU fifth-year head coach Ronny Fisher returns to his old stomping grounds this weekend, having been the head coach at PC from 2008-16. Fisher put together a 97-144 record in eight seasons at the helm of the Blue Hose, including the team's best season since moving to Division I, a 19-12 campaign in 2012-13 which saw Presbyterian make its only postseason appearance of its DI era (WBI). He also served as an assistant for the PC men's team for more than a decade. Fisher's staff is littered with PC connections as well. Lindsay Bowen was on the staff for his final season with the Blue Hose, Pierre Miller played at Presbyterian from 2007-12 and served on the men's staff as an assistant under former Blue Hose head coach Gregg Nibert, Kaycie Reffner played a DI era record 124 games for the Blue Hose under Fisher from 2013-17, and Sherece Smith also played under Fisher from 2010-14.

Cleaning the Glass...
Presbyterian has won the rebounding battle in eight of its 10 games, including seven of eight games in conference play. The Blue Hose rank second overall in the Big South in rebounding margin (+3.8/game) and are tops in the league in rebounding margin in conference games (+5.9/game). Presbyterian also boasts three of the top-7 rebounders in the conference in Jade Compton (T-4th, 8.0), Tionna Carter (6th, 7.7) and Nyah Willis (7th, 7.4).

Among the Leaders...
Tionna Carter leads PC in scoring at 14.0 ppg, which is tied for sixth in the Big South, while Trinity Johnson is 10th at 11.5 per game. In conference play, Carter is fourth (14.5 ppg), while Johnson is tied for sixth (13.5 ppg). Carter also ranks fourth in field goal percentage (.505) and second in free throw percentage (.850). Johnson continues to pace the Blue Hose in assists, averaging 3.8 per game, which is up to third in the conference. Maleia Bracone tops PC in steals and is fifth in the league, averaging 1.8 per contest.

The Double-Double Trio...
Jade Compton collected her second double-double of the season on Sunday at USC Upstate, scoring 11 points and snatching a career-high 15 rebounds. Compton is one of three PC players to have recorded a double-double in 2020-21. Tionna Carter has also registered a pair (Dec. 12 at ETSU, Dec. 16 vs GWU), while Nyah Willis notched her first as a Blue Hose on Dec. 30 at Radford.

Century Club...
Two Blue Hose sharpshooters are within striking distance of making the 100th three-pointer of their collegiate careers. Junior guard Shamani Stafford and senior forward Tess Santos each sit on 93 made threes for their careers, and need seven to reach 100. Seven other Blue Hose have reached 100 career three-pointers in the program's DI era, with Karlee Taylor making a record 264 from 2010-14. Santos is also two games shy of reaching 100 games played during her Blue Hose career.

COVID Concerns Affecting Schedule...
The postponement of PC's Jan. 4-5 series against UNC Asheville and subsequent rescheduling of its series against CSU (moved up from Feb. 19-20) pushed the number of games affected by COVID-19 to seven for the Blue Hose. Presbyterian had its originally scheduled season opener on Nov. 25 at Kennesaw State canceled after positive tests within the KSU program, and then their games at Furman (Dec. 1) and against Mercer (Dec. 10) canceled after COVID-19 concerns within their own program.

Back in Blue...
Coach Sharp brought back four starters from last year's squad, with Tionna Carter (30 GP/19 GS), Jade Compton (30 GP/28 GS), Trinity Johnson (29 GP/29 GS) and Tess Santos (30 GP/28 GS) all back in the fold. In total, the Blue Hose returned 10 letterwinners, which accounted for 77 percent of their scoring in 2019-20. Among those back are the team's top three scorers from a year ago in Johnson (15.2 ppg), Carter (8.9 ppg) and Compton (8.2 ppg).

New Kids on the Block...
Coach Sharp brought five newcomers into the fold for the 2020-21 season, four freshmen and one transfer. Center Aaliyah Austin (Satsuma, Ala.) and guards Sabrina Belquist (Los Gatos, Calif.), Maleia Bracone (Anderson, S.C.) and Kelsey Brown (Simpsonville, S.C.) make up PC's freshman class, while sophomore guard Nyah Willis (San Jose, Calif.) joins the Blue Hose as a transfer from Chabot College in Hayward, Calif.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Tionna Carter: F; 6' 1"; Freshman

#32 Jade Compton: F; 5' 10"; Junior

#14 Trinity Johnson: G; 5' 6"; Sophomore

#15 Tess Santos: F; 6' 0"; Junior

#23 Shamani Stafford: G; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#11 Sabrina Belquist: G; 5' 11"; Freshman

#24 Nyah Willis: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#4 Kelsey Brown: G; 5' 7"; Freshman

#00 Maleia Bracone: G; 5' 10"; Freshman

#21 Aaliyah Austin: C; 6' 2"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#22 Tionna Carter
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: F

#32 Jade Compton
: 5' 10"; Junior
: F

#14 Trinity Johnson
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: G

#15 Tess Santos
: 6' 0"; Junior
: F

#23 Shamani Stafford
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: G

#11 Sabrina Belquist
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: G

#24 Nyah Willis
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#4 Kelsey Brown
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: G

#00 Maleia Bracone
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: G

#21 Aaliyah Austin
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: C