CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team closed the regular season, protecting its home court on Saturday with a 64-53 victory over Charleston Southern inside the Templeton Center. Núria Cunill led the Blue Hose with a career-high 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds. PC also improved to 10-4 on the season at home with Saturday's victory.
FINAL SCORE: Presbyterian 64, Charleston Southern 53
LOCATION: Templeton Center (Clinton, S.C.)
RECORDS: Presbyterian (13-16, 9-9) | Charleston Southern (5-24, 3-15)
Scoring the Game
- The Blue Hose started quick in the first with the game's first eight points, including a pair of threes to jump ahead 8-0 over the Bucs. After CSU scored its first basket, PC quickly answered with a 5-0 burst to make it 13-2 with 6:02 to play, leading to a Bucs timeout. The guests scored the games next three points before a 9-0 Presbyterian run pushed the lead to 22-5 with 1:46 to play in the first. Charleston Southern closed the quarter on an 8-0 run to make it 22-13 after one.
- PC got a fast start in the second quarter with an 8-3 run to push the lead to 30-16 with 6:55 to play in the half. The two teams went back-and-forth with four-point runs before the Bucs outscored PC 5-4 in the final 90 seconds to make it 38-25 Blue Hose at the intermission.
- The Blue Hose scored quickly in the second half as they opened the quarter on a 9-2 run to push the advantage to 20, 47-27 with 5:01 to play in the third. The Bucs quickly ran the deficit to 17 before a 5-2 burst in the closing minutes gave PC the 53-33 lead after three quarters.
- Presbyterian scored five of the first seven points in the fourth before the Bucs cut into the Blue Hose lead scoring the next 14 points over a six-minute stretch to whittle the Blue Hose lead down to just nine, 58-49 with 1:32 to play. The Blue Hose connected on six free throws in the final moments to stave off CSU and earn the 64-53 win in the regular season finale.
Players of the Game
- Cunill paced the Blue Hose with a career-high 18 points as she connected on 8-of-10 field goals and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for PC. Aubrie Kierscht and Mara Neira each tallied 12 points in the contest. Kierscht connected on four triples and had three rebounds and a pair of assists, while Neira was 5-of-12 from the field with a pair of threes, five rebounds, and three assists. Neira, Tilda Sjökvist, Ashley Carrillo, and Paige Kindseth each tallied three helpers to lead the way. Zaire Hicks led Charleston Southern with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting as Madison Adamson added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, along with four steals. Hicks, along with Jazmin Jackson, each had two helpers.
Stats of the Game
- Presbyterian was 48% (24-of-50) from the floor on Saturday and was able to limit CSU to 30% (18-of-60) shooting. PC connected on seven threes compared to four from the Bucs. PC was 9-of-13 at the charity stripe as the guests went 13-of-17 at the line. Presbyterian won the rebounding battle by nine, 42-33. The Blue Hose dished out 15 assists compared to seven from the Bucs. CSU tallied nine steals, with the Blue Hose recording four. The Blue Hose outscored CSU 34-28 in the paint and 25-8 by the bench scoring. CSU did have the edge on fast break points at 21-14.
Notables
- Cunill improved on her career-high set against High Point earlier this season as the Berga, Spain native finished with 18 points and matched her career-high with eight made field goals in the contest.
- Kierscht picked up her 13th double-figure scoring output with 12 points as she connected four triples in the victory. She also moved to seventh in the single-season DI record book for threes in a season, with her now 64 made on the season.
- Bryanna Brady finished with eight points, five rebounds, and a pair of blocks on Saturday. Brady's two blocks moves her into a tie for second in the single-season DI record book, with her now 31 blocks on the year.
- With their 15 assists on Saturday, the Blue Hose surpassed the program DI team single-season record for assists in a year with 415. Carrillo had the assist to reach the milestone.
- Cunill's third defensive rebound on Saturday pushed the team into another team milestone, with the new benchmark being set for defensive rebounds in a season at now 810.
- The 2022-23 Blue Hose also became the first team in the PC DI era to convert 700+ field goals in a season.
- The Blue Hose finished the home season at 10-4, marking the first 10+ win season at home for PC since 2015-16 when Presbyterian went 12-2 on its home court.
- PC finishes the regular season in a tie for fourth in the Big South standings, marking the best finish by a Blue Hose team since 2015-16 when PC finished in a tie for 3rd.
Up Next
- The Blue Hose will begin prep for the 2023 Hercules Tires Big South Championship, with the matchups set to be announced on Saturday night.
