Piedmont women's hoops season comes to an end in USA South loss

MARYVILLE, Tenn. -- The Piedmont College women's basketball team saw its 2014-15 season come to a close Thursday, falling 66-49 to Ferrum College in the USA South Championship Tournament hosted in Maryville, Tenn.

Ferrum (18-8, 15-4 USA South) entered the quarterfinal contest as the No. 2 seed from the North Division while Piedmont, now 19-7 & 11-5 in USA South action, came into the tourney as the #3 seed from the South Division.

The Panthers took 20 less shots than PC on the day, but connected at better than 56 percent compared to Piedmont, which managed just over 26 percent including a 5-of-27 mark from 3-point land. Ferrum was led by Jacole Hairston and Kemani Crawford who each scored 18 points combining to shoot 13-of-19 from the field.

Piedmont's top scorer was Chandler Alverson who tallied a game-high 22 to lead all scorers as the veteran Lady Lion was 3-of-9 from 3-point land.

Alverson helped PC start the contest on a 4-0 run scoring both buckets for the Lady Lions, but Ferrum would come back with four straight to tie it up. Carly Sales put PC back in front moments later, but again Ferrum was up to the task tying it at six all.

The two teams did not have much going offensively overall in the opening period combining for just 20 points total through the first ten minutes as the pair tied at 10 each with 10:17 to go, the 4th tie up until that point in the contest.

The pair would tie up four more times in the first half, but Piedmont could not regain the lead in the opening period as Ferrum answered each time the Lady Lions pulled level in the final ten minutes of the half. The Lady Lions trailed by just two points (23-21) at the half though Piedmont could easily have had the lead at the break forcing Ferrum into 14 first half turnovers.

However, Piedmont was only able to turn those takeaways into seven total points while Ferrum attacked the bucket to stay in the contest hitting on eight of 13 first half tries at the charity stripe. PC meanwhile was only able to get to the line twice in the first half hitting 1-of-4 while shooting 25% the field unable to take advantage of the breaks early on.

A 6-0 Ferrum run after the intermission put Piedmont on its heels as the Green and Gold would not score in the 2nd half until a Carlie Shields 3-pointer at the 16:05 mark made it a five-point game.

The Panthers answered with four straight, but the Lady Lions continued to stay in striking distance after a Sales lay-up made it a 7-point lead for Ferrum. However, Piedmont continued to struggle offensively not stringing together consecutive buckets at any point in the second half as Ferrum answered scoring seven straight on its next three possessions combined to again take command in the contest.

Ferrum had pushed its lead to double digits by the midway point of the second half, but a three-point play the old fashioned way from Alverson cut the lead back down to nine, 40-31, with 10:53 to play. However, USA South Player of the Year Jacole Hairston quieted the rally with a three-point shot for Ferrum pushing the lead back up to 12 as the Panthers looked to move on to Friday's semifinal.

With just under ten minutes to go in the second half, Le'Shaunda Jones hit a pair at the free throw line to keep the deficit at ten. However, from that point on, Ferrum would go on a 16-6 run over the next five minutes capped by a Lindsey Martin 3-pointer as the Panthers shot 71 percent (5-of-7) from distance on the day.

That Martin tri-fecta with just over five minutes to go put the lead at 20 points for the Panthers (59-39). Ferrum held Piedmont to four made field goals over the final ten minutes including a pair of Alverson three-pointers, one of which set the final margin in the contest, 66-49.

Piedmont was led in rebounding by Julianne Bayer with her nine boards, the 9th time the sophomore has led in the category on the season. Right behind her was Sales, who came up two boards shy of the double-double scoring ten points on the day.

Brianna Barrett and Shields each had four assists to lead the way in that column while Alverson was the steals leader with her five takeaways.

The loss ends Piedmont's 2014-15 campaign at 19-7 overall, one win shy of a third 20-win season in the last five years. The winning percentage (.731) for the season was the best since the 2011-12 campaign when the Lady Lions won better than 80 percent of its contests played in that season.