Piedmont notches 11th conference win of season

DEMOREST -- The Piedmont College women's basketball team took care of visiting Huntingdon College earlier today in Cave Arena winning 79-77 for another USA South win, their 11th of the season and 18th overall.<br /> <br /> Piedmont scored 20 points off turnovers in the second half as the Lady Lions again turned up the heat defensively. Fourteen of Huntingdon's 20 turnovers in the game came in the final 20 minutes as Piedmont dug deep when the Green and Gold needed it most feeding off a raucous crowd at the Cave. <br /> <br /> Huntingdon falls to 12-11 overall though the Hawks did see Pat Pickens become the program's all-time leading scorer eclipsing the 1,414 point record previous as she tallied 30 total points to lead all scorers hitting on 11-of-18 from the field. <br /> <br /> Piedmont's Brianna Barrett was the one who handed Pickens the game-ball in a display of great respect between a graduating star and a rising one as the sophomore Barrett stole the show late with her double-double effort that saw her lead her team with 17 points and 10 assists.<br /> <br /> Barrett now has exactly 100 helpers on the season placing her 2nd in the USA South as she is one of only two players to cross the century mark this season. Barrett's 17 points put her as one of three Lady Lions in double figures as Le'Shaunda Jones had 16 shooting 50 percent from the field while Julianne Bayer continued her hot streak with 15 more points today as she connected on five of her nine shots from the field.<br /> <br /> Piedmont scored first in the contest with a layup from Jones though Pickens tallied four straight for HC to help the Hawks surge in front setting up a back-and-forth all day between the two South Division foes. A Dakota Sullens bucket with 16:18 to play in the first put PC up by seven, but the margin would be the largest lead of the first half for PC as Huntingdon went ahead on a Pickens layup near the midway point of the half.<br /> <br /> Each time the Hawks tried to fly away with the lead, the Lady Lions roared back into the game as Carlie Shields connected on a jumper with 6:45 to go before the break to keep the lead to five points, and Taylor Swoszowski would cut it to two just a few minutes later when she scored on a fastbreak making it 33-31 HC. <br /> <br /> Huntingdon got a three the old fashioned way from Pickens to make it a 36-31 game, but as she did all day, Barrett had an answer going coast to coast with less than three seconds on the clock for a layup good at the buzzer trimming the halftime lead for the visitors to three points, 36-33.<br /> <br /> The game was dead even after 20 minutes in most stat columns with Huntingdon scoring 22 in the paint compared to 20 for PC, but the Hawks got the better of the turnovers in the opening period with 11 points off takeaways compared to four for PC. However, the tide began to turn following the intermission as Jones picked up a bucket and the foul nearly right away in the second half converting from the charity stripe to tie the game at 36.<br /> <br /> Huntingdon would take the lead back on the next possession and hold it until Chandler Alverson connected on one of her three shots from the field at the 13:14 mark to tie it up at 46-46. Alverson was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and also connected on the two free throws that proved to be the difference in the contest. <br /> <br /> Minutes after Alverson's jumper that drew Piedmont level, Bayer would help PC take the lead for good connecting on a jumper with 9:52 to go followed by back-to-back layups by local standouts Carly Sales and Barrett on the next two Piedmont possessions. <br /> <br /> Huntingdon was not done yet though continuing to hit shots when needed as the visitors saw Mackenzie Garmany connect on a three-pointer with 20 seconds left that cut Piedmont's lead to just one point. A foul on Piedmont's Swoszowksi put the junior at the line where she connected on the second of two free throws to put the pressure on Huntingdon to either look to tie or go for the win on the road.<br /> <br /> However, the Lady Lions would make that decision for the Hawks as they forced a turnover after the ball made it inbounds as it was the sophomore Bayer who came with the game-saving play tossing the ball to Alverson who wisely backed out and forced Huntingdon to foul with 6.2 remaining. <br /> <br /> Alverson connected on both, and though HC would hit a layup as PC avoided the foul, Piedmont held on for the 79-77 win at home moving to 18-5 overall and 11-4 in USA South play. The Lady Lions are now a game up on LaGrange (10-5 USA South) in 2nd place of the South Division after the Panthers' 77-51 loss today to Maryville. <br /> <br /> Next up for Piedmont will be a road trip on Wednesday as the Lady Lions are set to play Maryville College in their USA South finale though the Eagles of Toccoa Falls still await on the regular season schedule for Piedmont's non-conference slate.

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