Women's Hoops Set for Weekend Battle with Spartans

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team continues its six-game road swing on Saturday and Sunday with a trip to Spartanburg to face USC Upstate.

Matchup: Presbyterian (4-4, 3-3) at USC Upstate (3-8, 1-5)
Date: Saturday and Sunday, January 9-10
Time: 4:00 pm / 2:00 pm
Site: G.B. Hodge Center (Spartanburg, S.C.)
Live Video: Game 1 Game 2
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Twitter: @bluehosewbb

Notes

Opening Tip...
After splitting a pair at Charleston Southern earlier in the week, Presbyterian continues its six-game road swing this weekend as it heads up I-26 to face USC Upstate in a two-game Big South Conference series.

Last Time Out...
Earlier in the week, PC split its third straight conference series, winning the opener and dropping the finale at Charleston Southern. In game one, the Blue Hose used a 17-2 run in the first half to erase an early deficit. The run included a stretch of 10 straight points, all of which were scored or assisted by Maleia Bracone. CSU rallied to even the game in the third quarter, but a 7-0 run late in the contest helped PC pull away for the 62-51 victory. The next night, the Blue Hose led for the majority of the game, but a 16-3 CSU run in the fourth quarter quashed PC's hopes of a series sweep. Jade Compton led the four Blue Hose in double-figures with 17 points.

Scouting the Spartans...
USC Upstate enters this weekend's series at the bottom of the Big South standings, and has lost four straight since splitting a series at Winthrop to open conference play. The Spartans had opportunities in their series at Longwood earlier in the week, but could not hold a six-point halftime edge in the opener, and fell victim to a fourth quarter rally by the Lancers in game two. Freshman McKinley Brooks-Sumpter ranks 10th in the conference in scoring at 12.3 points per game and was named the Big South Freshman of the Week on Monday.

Bracone Breaking Out...
Maleia Bracone has emerged as a strong scorer off the bench for PC as of late. Bracone netted a career-high 16 in Monday's win at CSU, and has scored in double-figures in three of the last four. The freshman has continued strong defensive play as well, notching two or more steals in six games.

Cleaning the Glass...
Since the season-opening loss at Clemson, PC has won the rebounding battle in seven straight games. 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 play (+6.5/game). Presbyterian also boasts three of the top-10 rebounders in the conference in Tionna Carter (4th, 8.3), Jade Compton (7th, 7.3) and Nyah Willis (9th, 7.0).

The Double-Double Trio...
With the double-doubles by Nyah Willis and Jade Compton in PC's series at Radford, the Blue Hose have had three different players record double-doubles so far this season. Willis scored 12 points and snagged 10 rebounds in the series-opening victory over the Highlanders, while Compton poured in a season-best 20 points and snatched 11 rebounds in the finale. The duo joined Tionna Carter among Blue Hose with double-doubles, with Carter having registered a pair earlier in the campaign at ETSU (16 points, 14 rebounds) and in the Big South opener against Gardner-Webb (16 points, 12 rebounds).

Among the Leaders...
Tionna Carter leads PC in both scoring (13.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 rpg), ranking eighth and fourth, respectively, in the Big South in those categories. The sophomore sits fifth in both field goal percentage (.506) and free throw percentage (.815). Trinity Johnson continues to pace the Blue Hose in assists, averaging 3.3 per game, fifth in the conference. Freshman guard Maleia Bracone tops the Blue Hose in steals and is fifth in the league, averaging 1.9 per contest.

Defense Remains Key...
Defense helped spearhead a five-win improvement for PC in head coach Alaura Sharp's second season at the helm, and the trend has continued in 2020-21. As a team, Presbyterian boasts the second-best scoring defense in the conference, allowing just 58.2 points per game, while its opponent's .358 field goal percentage is the second-lowest in the league.

100 3's 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.

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 incoming 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