Blue Hose Close Out Regular Season at Winthrop

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team closes out its regular season this week with a trip to Rock Hill to take on Winthrop.

Matchup: Presbyterian (9-9, 8-8) at Winthrop (6-15, 5-13)
Date: Tuesday & Wednesday, March 2-3, 2021
Time: 6:00 pm
Site: Winthrop Coliseum (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Live Video: Game 1 | Game 2
Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
Twitter: @bluehosewbb

Notes

Opening Tip...
After having its rescheduled series against Hampton canceled, Presbyterian closes out the regular season with a trip to Rock Hill to face Winthrop.

Last Time Out...
After nearly two weeks off, Presbyterian returned to the court on Feb. 16 and was edged 61-59 by UNC Asheville. The Blue Hose found themselves down by 10 early in the third quarter, but went on a 13-0 run to grab a two-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter. PC held Asheville to just five points in the third quarter, tied for the fewest points allowed in any quarter by the Blue Hose this season, and the fewest allowed in a single quarter to a Big South opponent in 2020-21. After the Bulldogs tied the contest at 58-58 with 14 seconds to play, Trinity Johnson knocked home a free throw with six seconds to go to put PC back on top. On the ensuing possession, Asheville's Amaryah Corpening canned a three-pointer with 1.9 seconds to go, which proved to be the game-winning basket.

Scouting the Eagles...
Winthrop enters this week's series having gotten swept in each of its last two Big South series, losing both ends of its trips to Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville. Myra Strickland leads the Eagles in scoring at 10.6 points per game and is the lone scorer averaging double-digits for an offense which is averaging 52.4 points per contest, the lowest scoring average in the Big South. Winthrop is one of the better rebounding teams in the conference, ranking third in rebounding margin at +2.6/game. Anika Riley's 6.0 rebounds per game leads the Eagles.

All-Time Series with Winthrop...
Winthrop holds a 23-11 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs, but the series has been much tighter since Presbyterian moved to the Division I level in 2007-08. The Eagles hold a 15-11 edge since PC's transition to DI, but the Blue Hose have had the upper hand as of late, winning eight of the last 11 meetings. The two squads have split the season series in each of the last two seasons.

Getting to the Line...
PC has been getting to the free throw line at a strong rate all season, having taken at least 20 free throws in 12 games this season. Presbyterian is averaging 20.3 free throw attempts per contest in 2020-21, which is the highest average in the Big South. The Blue Hose have taken that up a tick in conference play, as they are averaging 20.7 attempts from the foul line in league play. The Blue Hose have been converting at the charity stripe at a high rate as well, knocking down 71.6 percent of their free throws, third-best in the league. PC also boasts three of the top-12 in the Big South in free throw percentage in Tionna Carter (6th, .783), Trinity Johnson (8th, .768) and Nyah Willis (12th, .703).

Cleaning the Glass...
PC has won the rebounding battle in 14 of its 18 games, including 13 of 16 in conference play. The Blue Hose own the top overall rebounding margin in the Big South (+4.4/game), as well as the best rebounding margin in conference play (+5.6/game). PC also has two of the top-9 rebounders in the conference in Jade Compton (4th, 8.3) and Tionna Carter (9th, 6.3). Compton's 8.6 rebounds in conference games are also third-best in the league.

Among the Leaders...
Tionna Carter leads Presbyterian in scoring at 12.1 ppg, tied for 12th in the Big South, while Jade Compton sits in 15th at 11.7 ppg. Compton is third (.503) and Carter is fifth (.491) in field goal percentage. Trinity Johnson is handing out 4.3 assists per game, which is third in the conference. Defensively, Carter ranks fourth in blocks per game (1.1) and Maleia Bracone is tied for fourth in steals (1.8/game) for a PC defense which ranks second in the Big South, allowing 59.7 points per game this season.

Century Club...
Senior forward Tess Santos hit a trio of three-pointers on Jan. 29 at Longwood to surpass 100 made threes for her collegiate career, making her the eighth Blue Hose to do so in the program's DI era. Karlee Taylor owns the DI era career record for PC, having made 264 from 2010-14. Santos also played her 100th game as a Blue Hose on Jan. 16 against Campbell.

COVID Concerns Affecting Schedule...
The postponement and subsequent rescheduling of PC's Feb. 12-13 series against Hampton for Feb. 25-26 pushed the number of games affected by COVID-19 to 11 for the Blue Hose, as it pushed PC's series at Winthrop back to Mar. 2-3. The Blue Hose eventually had to cancel their series against Hampton due to a pause in the Lady Pirates' program. In Big South play, PC also had its Jan. 4-5 series against Asheville postponed to Feb. 3 and 16, and its Feb. 19-20 series at CSU moved up to Jan. 4-5. Presbyterian also lost three of its five scheduled non-conference games, with Nov. 25 at Kennesaw State, Dec. 1 at Furman and Dec. 10 against Mercer all canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

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"; Sophomore

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

#14 Trinity Johnson: G; 5' 7"; Junior

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

#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"; Sophomore
: F

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

#14 Trinity Johnson
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

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

#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