Piedmont women stay perfect with win over Salem

DEMOREST -- The Piedmont College women's basketball team extended its season-opening winning streak to five games with a 26-point win over defending Great South Athletic Conference champion Salem College, 88-62 Sunday on the road. The victory is the third win in Piedmont's (5-0, 1-0 USA South) five this season to come by 25 points or more as the Lady Lions have dominated the competition to start the 2014-15 campaign. <br /> <br /> Playing for the first time since a November 30 win over Berry College on the road, Piedmont led by 19 at the half in today's win over the Spirits (1-3) cruising in the second half after surging to the big lead before intermission. Freshman Dakota Sullens posted a breakout performance with 13 points and nine rebounds coming up one board shy of her first career double-double with nine of her points coming in the second half. <br /> <br /> Piedmont opened on an 11-0 run with Le'Shaunda Jones scoring seven of those points en route to a game-high 16 on the afternoon hitting six of eight from the field. Jones also threw in three rebounds and three assists for her best all-around performance though Piedmont found itself up just four at the midway point of the first half despite the big outburst to start. <br /> <br /> However, PC closed the opening period on a 23-8 run to shut the door on any hopes of a Salem win at home as the Green and Gold held a ten point advantage in the paint over the first 20 minutes. From the intermission on, Piedmont put it in cruise control using six three-pointers including two from Mary Kate Rushton and newcomer Bridgette Kelly in the second half to seal the deal. <br /> <br /> Piedmont led by double-digits in the entire second half with its lead staying above 21 points for the final seven minutes. The Lady Lions' advantage grew as large as 32 after a late jumper from Autumn Brooks as PC earned the 88-62 win over their former conference foe. <br /> <br /> Salem, who finished last season with a 21-5 record and earned the GSAC crown, was unable to hand Piedmont its first loss of the year as the Lady Lions are the only undefeated team left in the USA South at 5-0 overall. It's the second time that Piedmont has started a season at least 5-0 in the last four years and first time since the Lady Lions began 2011-12 at 12-0 and ranked #18 in the country. <br /> <br /> With the win, Piedmont moves to 5-0 with four of those five wins coming away from the friendly confines of Cave Arena. However, the Lady Lions will return to the Johnny Mize Athletic Center for their next contest nine days from now when Piedmont plays host to the Vikings of Berry College on Dec. 16. <br /> <br /> The matchup is the second of two in the season series between the out-of-conference foes as Piedmont took the first chapter 83-73 on Nov. 30. Tip off is set for 3 p.m. in the Cave.

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