Demorest, GA – The Piedmont College women’s basketball team picked up its 6th win by 20 points or more this season with an 81-60 win over visiting Covenant College earlier tonight in Cave Arena.
The win was the 15th overall for PC and 8th in USA South play as the Lady Lions scored 80 or more for the 10th time in 17 games. Piedmont continues to put up offensive numbers with some of the nation’s best ranking 8th amongst all Division III institutions in scoring offense.
Four Lady Lions were in double figures on the evening led by a pair of 17-point scorers in freshman DAKOTA SULLENS and sophomore JULIANNE BAYER. Each connected on seven field goals as Bayer was a perfect 2-for-2 from 3-point land. Sullens came up one rebound shy of a double-double on the evening while Bayer pulled down seven boards herself.
The turning point in the contest came with 11:18 remaining in the first half and Piedmont nursing a 2-point lead (14-12). For the next 7-plus minutes, Piedmont did not allow Covenant to tally a single point scoring 24 unanswered to blow the game wide open with still a few minutes to go before the intermission.
That 24-0 run came as part of a first half that saw PC force 14 turnovers scoring 19 of its 41 1st half points off those takeaways. Covenant committed 20 turnovers on the evening while Piedmont only gave up possession a season-low five times. Tonight was the first time Piedmont has had single-digit turnovers on the season.
Juniors MARY KATE RUSHTON and TAYLOR SWOSZOWSKI each had 11 points as the remaining two in double figures for PC. Rushton scored nine of Piedmont’s first 11 points including two tries from 3-point land as the sharp shooter was red hot to start the evening.
Four straight points for Covenant tied the ball game at 11 after Rushton’s early flurry, but it was all downhill from there for the Scots whose 7-minute scoreless drought saw seven different Lady Lions score capped by a CHANDLER ALVERSON fastbreak lay-in. Piedmont scored 14 on the break for the game and tallied 28 total points off turnovers for the night.
After Piedmont held an 18-point lead at the break following two Covenant free throws with a second left in the first, the Lady Lions put it in cruise control for the night. The closest the Scots came in the second half was on a jumper 13 seconds in that cut the margin down to 16, but a Sullens layup eight seconds later pushed the lead back up to 18 and started a 6-0 run for PC.
The Lady Lions led by as many as 27 in the second half after a layup from JULIANNE BAYER put the score at 58-31 with just over 14 minutes left to play.
Six-of-13 shooting from 3-point land (46%) helped Covenant keep the margin manageable, but the story for the night was written with the 24-0 first half run by PC as Piedmont went on to win by 21, 81-60 improving to 5-0 at home since the calendar turned to 2015.
Piedmont moves to 15-2 overall with the win while improving to now 8-1 in USA South play setting up a clash of the titans on Saturday as undefeated Maryville College comes to town with a #18 national ranking and a perfect 8-0 USA South record intact.
The Scots will come to Cave Arena for the January 31 contest set to tip off at 4:00 pm with live coverage provided on WCON radio and the Mane Event Broadcasting Network. Pre-game festivities are set to start on WCON radio approximately 30 minutes before tip off.
