Tuesday,
December 4, 2001
#19 LADY PACERS EARN HARD-FOUGHT WIN
OVER #18 PRESBYTERIAN
AIKEN,
SC— Allison Nold's jumper with 3:12 left gave the 19th ranked USC
Aiken Lady Pacers (7-1) a 52-50 lead, their first advantage
since 18:46, and they held on for a huge 58-55 win over the
18th ranked Presbyterian College Blue Hose (6-1) in women's
non-conference basketball Tuesday night at "The
Courthouse." Nold
finished with a game-high 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting.
"Tonight
was a character builder," said head coach Phil Stern who
is now one win away from his 50th at USCA.
"We also showed that we can win with another style
of play."
The
Lady Pacers' shooting woes continued as they hit just 8-of-26
from the field in the first half (30.8 percent) and were
shutout from the three-point line (0-4).
But three days removed from one of their worst
performances from the free throw line in Stern's four years at
USCA (9-of-23 for 39.1 percent), the Lady Pacers were 10 of-12
(83.3 percent) in the first half, good enough to take a 26-25
lead at the break.
Presbyterian
was also well below their shooting average, 10-of-29 for 34.5
percent, but hit four triples in the opening 20 minutes.
Toni Leopard's
basket with 9:22 left until half gave the Blue Hose a 16-8
lead, the largest for either team in the game.
Leopard, who averaged 21.3 ppg entering tonight,
finished with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
In the
second half, Nold hit a jumper at 19:42 and that would be the
last time USCA would lead until the 3:12 mark.
Six times, PC pushed the bulge to five points, the last
coming at 48-43 on a basket from freshman Dana
Birnie with 6:21 to
play. Birnie led
all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting to go with
seven rebounds. But a three from Nold and a 10-foot jumper
from Jami Cornwell tied it at 48-48 with 5:12 left.
For the
game, USCA shot 32.1 percent (18-of-56) but hit 4-of-13 from
long range in the second half (30.8).
The Blue Hose actually shot better than the Lady Pacers
connecting on 22-of-58 (37.9 percent) but USCA out rebounded
PC 43-34 and out scored them 18-5 at the stripe.
Julie
Szabo, whose three free throws with 2.0 remaining at PC
last season forced overtime before the Lady Pacers fell 73-58,
again found herself a similar situation.
The 5-7 junior guard from Haverhill, Massachusetts was
fouled with 12.9 left and calmly sank both ends of a
one-and-one to give the Lady Pacers a 58-55 lead. A final shot by Presbyterian was off the mark and USCA claimed the
hard-fought win.
Szabo
finished with 12 points, a career-high nine rebounds, and five
assists. Cornwell dished out a game-high six assists and
swiped six of the Lady Pacers' eight steals to go with four
rebounds and 10 points. Cortney Ray, getting the starting nod in the middle,
registered six rebounds and six points.
Providing USCA with their only bench points of the
night was senior Mary Wooley who hit 3-of-5 from the
field for eight points and six rebounds in 20 minutes of
action.
Bonnie
Werner added seven points, six rebounds, four assists,
and four steals in 40 minutes for head coach Beth Couture's
Blue Hose squad.
The win
snapped a two-game skid to PC and extend the Lady Pacers lead
in the series to 13-7. It
also gave USCA their sixth consecutive victory, equaling their
longest such streak last season and just two shy of the school
record set at the beginning of the 1990-91 season.