Piedmont College women conference opener with ease

The Piedmont College women's basketball team had no trouble with Mary Baldwin College Sunday in Cave Arena, handing the visiting Fighting Squirrels an 81-34 loss to open the USA South schedule for the entire league. <br /> <br /> Piedmont scored almost 50 points in the first half alone leading the whole way as the Lady Lions forced 26 turnovers and scored 30 points off the takeaways to earn the 47-point win at home.<br /> <br /> Piedmont went on a 13-0 run after the opening tip with sophomore Julianne Bayer capping the streak off with a three-pointer, one of two on the day for the youngster who was perfect from beyond the arc and four of six overall. Three Lady Lions were in double figures on the afternoon for Head Coach Jamie Purdy as Bayer and Le'shaunda Jones each tallied 11 while Taylor Swoszowski had 10. <br /> <br /> The paint belonged to the home team as well with PC outscoring the visitors 46 to 18 down low including a 32-8 margin in the first half alone. At the intermission, Piedmont led 49-17 holding the Fighting Squirrels to just under 30% shooting as a team from the floor while the Lady Lions connected on close to 50% themselves. <br /> <br /> The second half featured more of the same for the Lady Lions except behind the three-point line where PC connected on only one of 11 tries from distance after halftime. Despite the outside shots not falling, Piedmont's lead never dipped below 33 points in the second half as the home team scored the game's final 14 points to finish as an 81-34 winner. <br /> <br /> Piedmont held Mary Baldwin to just two field goals over the final 11 minutes of the contest in one of the team's most dominating wins in recent memory, but it would be the second time the Lady Lions handed the Fighting Squirrels a 40-plus point loss. The 47 point margin of victory is however the longest in the three-game series which dates back to the 2012-13 season, Piedmont's first as a USA South member. <br /> <br /> In all, 14 different players saw action for PC. The leading rebounder on the day was local product Carly Sales with eight while newcomer Dakota Sullens followed close behind with seven. Sales' fellow Habersham Central graduate Brianna Barrett was tops in the assist column with a half dozen of Piedmont's 22 helpers on the afternoon. Barrett also had a team-high three steals as well.<br /> <br /> With the win, Piedmont moves to 2-0 and opens up USA South play at 1-0 while Mary Baldwin drops to now 0-4, 0-1 in conference. <br /> <br /> Next up for PC will be a tournament test as the Lady Lions travel south for the LaGrange Classic hosted by fellow USA South member, LaGrange College. Piedmont will play its first game in the event on November 29 with tip off set for 2 p.m. against Oglethorpe University, a member of the Southern Athletic Association. <br /> <br /> The Green and Gold will follow that up with a 2 p.m. game the following day against Berry College, another SAA member. Both contests will occur at LaGrange College over the Thanksgiving weekend.