LAGRANGE -- The Piedmont College women's basketball team fell victim to the buzzer beater earlier tonight as LaGrange College hit a shot with time expiring to hand Piedmont a 57-56 loss in USA South action.<br />
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The Lady Lions (15-4, 8-3 USA South) were held to their lowest offensive output of the 2014-15 season with just 56 total points, two points below their output from Sunday in a 71-58 loss to Maryville. Piedmont has now lost consecutive games for the first time on the season while LaGrange (15-5, 10-1 USA South) picked up its 9th consecutive win on the season, with all but one of those coming in USA South play.<br />
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LaGrange led by 12 with under seven minutes to play on the night, but Piedmont staged a furious rally to chip away at the home team lead cutting it to just one (55-54) with just under two minutes to go. After Piedmont picked up its third straight stop on the defensive end, a follow-up by MARY KATE RUSHTON handed Piedmont a 1-point lead (56-55) with 1:22 left, but her bucket would be the last score until the horn sounded in South Georgia.<br />
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Rushton finished the night with 11 points shooting 40% from the field as she has now scored in double figures in four of the last five games for PC.<br />
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With just 20 seconds remaining in regulation and the Lady Lions up by one, a traveling violation gave LaGrange one more chance as the Panthers called a quick timeout to discuss options for what looked like the last possession of the game. Piedmont picked up full-court pressure with the Panthers looking shaky trying to get the ball past mid-court doing so with just ten seconds left to set up offensively. <br />
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Piedmont looked to have escape with a win following a wild shot by LaGrange's Kelsey Mitchell on a dribble-drive rattled off the rim, but the fell to the waiting hands of the Panthers' Madison Barker. Barker was able to collect the rebound and toss up the final effort catching nothing but nylon at the buzzer sending the home crowd cascading onto the court at Mariotti Gym. <br />
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Barker's last-second shot handed the Panthers the one-point win and gave Piedmont its second loss in a row in conference play, something that has not happened since last January. <br />
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The Lady Lions trailed by four at the half after shooting poorly from the field, 25% overall hitting on just one of nine tries from three-point land. Piedmont connected on only 2-of-11 for the game from downtown (18%), its 3rd-worst mark of the season.<br />
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Piedmont was led in scoring by Taylor Swoszowski with all 14 of her points on the night coming in the second half. Swoszowski connected on four of her seven tries from the field including her only three-point attempt. <br />
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JULIANNE BAYER finished two rebounds shy of a double-double with ten points as well while BRIANNA BARRETT collected three assists to lead the way in that category. <br />
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Up next for PC is another road challenge vs. a South Division foe in the USA South as the Lady Lions travel to Montgomery, Alabama for a showdown with Huntingdon College on Saturday afternoon. The contest is set to tip off at 5:00 pm ET, 4:00 pm CT.
