CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College Blue Hose women's basketball team (9-7, BSC: 0-1) lost to the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (4-10, BSC: 1-0) with a score of 61-57 after a close final minute of play.
 
The Blue Hose were trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, when they went on a 12-1 run to get back into the game.
 
COACH SHARP'S THOUGHTS
"I think we are a better basketball team than we played today. We're one game in so it is way too early to hit the panic button. We've got 15 more opportunities to play better basketball"
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter – Bryanna Brady won the tip for the Blue Hose and followed up with the first basket of the night. After some back and forth the score was tied at four points apiece when the Buccaneers scored the first three-point basket of the game. We headed to the first media timeout with Presbyterian trailing 9-5. CSU took another three-pointer to go ahead by seven, but Mara Neira answered with her first three-pointer of the night. Brady sank two free throws which brought the Buccaneer's lead down to two points with under a minute of play left in the first quarter. Neira ended the first quarter with a layup to keep the score tied at 14 points apiece.
 
Second Quarter – After the tied was pushed to 16 points each, Brady made two foul shots followed by a layup from Tilda Sjökvist to give PC a 20-16 lead. After some back and forth Christina Kline hit a corner three to make the score 27-21. CSU scored four three-point shots in a row to go ahead before halftime with a score of 33-27.
 
Third Quarter – The Buccaneers scored the first six points of the second half until Sjökvist ended their run with a three-point bucket. CSU answered with a three of their own, but Sjökvist took two more points with another layup. After layups from both sides, Charleston Southern led 44-34 going into the media timeout. The Buccaneers scored the next seven points before Nuria Cunill ended their run with an in the paint jump shot as the shot clock hit zero. After a scoreless rest of the third quarter the Buccaneers led by 15 points with a score of 51-36.
 
Fourth Quarter – Sjökvist scored a three-point jumper to start off the fourth quarter before the Buccaneers scored two more points to put CSU's lead at 14 points with a score of 53-39. PC scored 12 of the next 13 points led by two three pointers from Sjökvist to cut Charleston Southern's lead down to just three points with under two minutes left of play. Charleston Southern made a free throw but Sjökvist hit another three to make it a one-point game. The Buccaneers answered with a three of their own followed by another foul shot, but once again we find Sjökvist scoring two more points for PC. The score was 59-56 with 36 seconds left and CSU ahead by three points when Presbyterian was forced to foul and Charleston Southern took another point. Free throws from both sides ended the game with the Buccaneers ahead by four and a final score of 61-57.
 
NOTABLES

• Tilda Sjökvist tied her season-high of 26 points while shooting 58.8% (10-of-17) from the field and 62.5% (5-of-8) from outside the arc.
• Bryanna Brady totaled 15 points while shooting 44.4% (4-of-9) from the field and 87.5% (7-of-8) from the line. She also recorded 6 rebounds, and two steals.
• Mara Neira scored nine points and came down with eight rebounds.

 
UP NEXT
The Blue Hose play their first road conference game of the season against UNC Asheville on Saturday, January 6 at 2:00 p.m.