Saturday, February 17, 2001

Sloan, Leopard lead Blue Hose to win over Lenoir-Rhyne

HICKORY, NC -- The Presbyterian College women's basketball team led from start to finish as they defeated Lenoir-Rhyne College 69-49 in a South Atlantic Conference game Saturday night at Shuford Gym.

The Blue Hose improved to 20-6 overall and remained in second place in the conference at 10-2 heading into the final week of the regular season. PC travels to first place Catawba College Wednesday night for a 6 p.m. contest. Lenoir-Rhyne, which is 14-9 overall and 6-6 in the conference, hosts Wingate University in a 6 p.m. contest Wednesday.

The Blue Hose, who has never lost in 25 games to the Bears, jumped out to a 12-2 lead on a layup by Bonnie Werner (Kennesaw, GA) with 15:10 left in the opening half. The Bears trimmed the lead down to eight points at 29-21 on a free throw by Jessica Bryan (Newport, NC) with 2:41 remaining, but PC scored the final eight points of the half to take a 35-21 lead at intermission.

Rachel Sloan (Greenville, SC) scored 10 of her game-high 19 points in the first half for PC. The Blue Hose held the Bears to 30.8 percent shooting (8-of-26) in the first half.

PC took an 18-point lead (39-21) on a jumper by Toni Leopard, who added 10 points and nine rebounds, with 18:19 left in the game before Lenoir-Rhyne rallied. The Bears scored eight unanswered points over the next four minutes to trim the lead down to 39-32 on a field goal by Sally Logan (Vale, NC) with 14:18 remaining.

The Blue Hose quelled the Lenoir-Rhyne rally with a 16-4 run off their own to push their lead back to 19 points (55-36) on a pair of free throws by Sloan with 6:22 left.

Tracy Naidas (Conover, NC)  led the Bears with 11 points and nine rebounds.