CLINTON, S.C. – Following a tie score at the half, the Presbyterian College women's basketball team used a 15-3 run to begin the second half en route to the 66-47 victory on Wednesday night inside the Templeton Center. Aubrie Kierscht led the Blue Hose offense with a career-high 18 points as she connected on six threes, as Bryanna Brady added 15 points and six rebounds.
FINAL SCORE: Presbyterian 66, Winthrop 47
LOCATION: Templeton Center (Clinton, S.C.)
RECORDS: Presbyterian (6-8, 2-1) | Winthrop (2-11, 0-2)
Scoring the Game
- The Blue Hose used the three ball in the early going as a triple from Mara Neira gave the hosts an early lead. Winthrop used a 6-2 burst over the next three minutes to jump in front 6-5. Núria Cunill connected on four straight points, but a pair of Eagle layups gave the guests a 10-9 lead at the 4:03 mark of the opening frame. The Blue Hose responded out of the media break with a 7-2 burst to take a 16-12 lead before the Eagles scored four unanswered. Brady connected on a late free throw to get the one-point lead after one.
- The two teams traded a pair of layups each way before a 6-0 burst from the Eagles pushed it to 26-21 with four minutes to play in the opening half. Paige Kindseth connected on a three following the guest run, which was answered by a Winthrop three to make it 29-24. A late triple from Laila Grant, followed by a Tilda Sjökvist layup, tied it at 29 at the intermission.
- PC came out of the gates quickly in the second half with five straight points before a quick three-point play from the Eagles cut it to 34-32. The Blue Hose responded with a 10-0 run to extend it to a 44-32 lead over the Eagles with 2:28 to play in the third quarter. The Eagles scored five points over the final two minutes, surrounded by Kierscht and Grant threes to give PC the 50-37 lead heading to the fourth.
- The Blue Hose opened the fourth quarter on an 8-4 run, pushing it to 58-41 with 6:11 to play in the contest. Following a layup from the Eagles, the Blue Hose went on an 8-2 burst highlighted by a pair of threes from Kierscht as the Blue Hose defeated Winthrop 66-47 on Wednesday night.
Players of the Game
- Kierscht led the Blue Hose with her career-best 18 points as she connected on a season-high six threes in the win. Brady added 15 points, six rebounds, and a pair of blocks. Neira added 12 points, going 5-of-9 shooting, including a pair of threes and four rebounds. Grant led the way on the glass with seven rebounds. Sjökvist paced the Blue Hose with eight assists as she also added four rebounds, three steals, and six points to her stat line. Paige Powell led Winthrop with a game-high 23 points going 8-of-12 shooting as she pulled down eight rebounds which, along with Aaishah Berry, led the Eagles defensively. Tori Hall led the guests with four steals as Winthrop tallied 12 in the defeat.
Stats of the Game
- The Blue Hose recorded a 43.9% (25-of-57) from the floor on Wednesday as they limited the guests to 33.3% (18-of-54). PC continued its strong performance from deep, making 11 threes, including seven of those in the third quarter, compared to one for the game by Winthrop. PC was 5-of-6 at the line as Winthrop went 10-of-19 at the charity stripe. The Eagles held a 38-34 lead on the glass. PC distributed 19 assists compared to just four from Winthrop. Led by 18 points from Kierscht, the Blue Hose outscored the Eagles bench by a 30-4 margin. The guests outscored the Blue Hose in points in the paint by the margin of 32-28, as they also recorded 12 steals compared to just nine from PC.
Notables
- Kierscht, for the second time in as many games, improved on her career-high as she totaled a team-best 18 points and did all of her damage from beyond the arc, making six threes.
- The freshman's six threes are the most by a Blue Hose this season and is one off of tying the single-game DI record for threes by a PC player as Kacie Hall made seven in a 2019 matchup against Hampton.
- Brady tallied her third double-figure scoring game in the last four contests with 15 points making 6-of-9 from the field.
- Sjökvist continued to dish the ball out for the Blue Hose on Wednesday with eight assists, totaling 29 assists over her last four games. In three league games, she's averaging 6.3 assists per game.
- She is currently one of only two players in the Big South to have totaled 60+ assists on the season and sits second in the conference with 61 helpers averaging 4.36 per game.
- Grant's seven rebounds to lead the team set a new season-high for the Blue Hose junior.
- The Blue Hose improved to 6-1 on Wednesday when scoring 60+ points in a game this season.
- PC has also won six of its last eight against the Eagles, which includes four of the last five matchups.
Up Next
- The Blue Hose hit the road for the first time in 2023 on Saturday for a 2 p.m. matchup in Charleston, battling CSU. The matchup with the Bucs will be shown on ESPN+.
