Rocky Mount, N.C. – The Piedmont College women’s basketball team continued to dominate USA South competition rolling to their fourth straight victory overall and moving to a perfect 3-0 in the conference defeating N.C. Wesleyan 88-74. The Lady Lions are now averaging over 82 points per game and tied their second highest point total of the season.
The Lady Lions began the game in dominating fashion taking a a 22-7 lead after scoring 13 straight and holding the Battling Bishops without a basket for over five minutes. Over the course of the next six minutes of the game it was N.C. Wesleyan who made a run of their own 19-5 to cut it to a one point game 27-26.
Piedmont built back a five point lead to go to the break up 38-33 and extended their lead to as many as 14 points after Chandler Alverson drained a 3-pointer with 14:33 remaining.
The Battling Bishops continued to fight in the second half and pulled to within four after knocking down a 3-pointer and scoring twice more off of turnovers. In the final minutes of the half, Piedmont put away any chance of a comeback outscoring N.C. Wesleyan 12-5 hitting 8-of-9 free throws during that run.
Mary Kate Rushton, the leading scorer on the team, lived up to her title scoring a game-high 17 points as well as notching 6 rebounds. The Lady Lions had four of five starters in double figures. Carly Sales led the team in rebounds with 11 while Julianne Bayer added 8.
One of the deciding factors in the game was the Lady Lions’ free throw shooting as they banked 68% (34-of-50) compared to just 52% (12-of-23) for the Battling Bishops. Piedmont did surrender 26 points off of turnovers contributing to N.C. Wesleyan’s ability to keep pace with the Lady Lions.
The win marks the fourth straight for Piedmont and moves their record to 9-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 in USA South play. The Lady Lions return home for a four-game home stand beginning on Friday, January 9 as they play host to William Peace.
Tipoff on Friday will be at 7:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the men’s team inside Cave Arena. The broadcast can be heard through WCON radio 1450 AM, 107.7 FM as well as the Mane Event Broadcasting Network.
