Birmingham, AL – The Piedmont College women’s basketball team made it three straight wins over the Panthers of Birmingham-Southern College earlier today holding on for a 68-63 win on the road to open 2014-15. In what was a very even game statistically, the Lady Lions recovered from a second-half surge by the Panthers that saw the home team lead for 16 minutes, but it was Piedmont who led late when it counted with BRIANNA BARRETT knocking down 4-of-6 at the line to ice the win.
Youngster JULIANNE BAYER scored Piedmont’s first six points as the Lady Lions established the post game early with the sophomore hitting on three of her first four tries from the field. Bayer would go on to tally 14 points on nearly 50% shooting from the floor.
Despite a few standout individual shooting performances, neither team shot well from the field in the opening minutes of the 2014-15 season combining to hit on eight of their first 30 tries. Piedmont did most of its damage from the free throw line connecting on six of their first seven attempts at the line while the Panthers could not get to the charity stripe themselves in the first half.
Back-to-back threes from a pair of youngsters in the closing minutes gave Piedmont a 27-21 lead as first BRIANNA BARRETT connected from distance before freshman BRIDGETTE KELLY earned her first points as a Lady Lion on a three with 2:02 to go before half. Barrett closed out the half hitting four of seven from the field going 2-for-4 from beyond the arc as Piedmont held a 28-24 lead at the intermission.
The Panthers shot the ball much better after the break going on a 11-0 run from the 18:01 mark in the 2nd half until 14:41 remained to take a 39-32 lead.
Piedmont played catch-up for most of the second half twice cutting the deficit to just one point before finally reclaiming the lead on a Barrett three-pointer with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Though Birmingham-Southern tied it back up on a pair of free throws seconds later to make it 61-61, a three-point play the old fashioned way by CARLY SALES gave Piedmont the answer it needed to the push from the hosting Panthers.
With the three-point lead in hand under 90 seconds to play, it was mathematical from that point on for PC who sent BRIANNA BARRETT to the free throw line six times to close out the game. The sophomore having a standout contest knocked down four of those tries to salt away a big 68-63 win on the road over the Panthers. Barrett’s point total was a career performance as bested her previous high of 13.
Three Lady Lions were in double figures on the afternoon, led by Barrett’s 18 on 60% (6-of-10) from the field. The sophomore was an incredible 4-of-6 from three-point land with her four made three’s also a new career high.
Bayer had 14 points on five of 11 while sophomore CARLY SALES wasn’t far behind with a dozen also shooting 5-of-11. Sales’ 12 boards gave her a double-double in the opener, her first double-double since a 22 point-13 rebound performance against NC Wesleyan on January 12, 2014.
Next up for Piedmont College will be a conference opener as the Lady Lions are set to host Mary Baldwin College a week from tomorrow in Cave Arena. The Sunday, November 23 matchup is set to tip off at noon with coverage provided courtesy of the Mane Event Broadcasting Network.
Piedmont also opened up USA South play with Mary Baldwin College last season knocking off the Fighting Squirrels by 34 on the road in early January. Mary Baldwin’s last visit to Cave Arena came on January 19, 2013 when Piedmont took a 95-41 victory.
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