Friday, November 30, 2001
#18
Presbyterian uses second half run to defeat
Winston-Salem State 76-57
Hickory,
NC - Presbyterian College freshman Dana
Birnie (Suwanee, GA) came off the bench to score
17 points, all in the second half, to lead the #18-ranked Blue
Hose to a 76-57 win over Winston-Salem State University
in the first game of the SAC/CIAA Challenge in women's
basketball action.
The Blue Hose shook off a sluggish first half to take a
35-31 lead into
intermission. PC was led in the first half by senior
wing Toni Leopard
(Ninety-Six, SC) who scored 11 points on four-of-five
shooting from the field. The Lady Rams kept the game
close as freshman forward LaShonda Horton (Greenville,
NC) scored nine points on four-of-five shooting.
Winston-Salem tallied 11 offensive rebounds in the first half
while holding a 21-19 advantage overall.
Winston-Salem State came out in the second half and took
control by
forcing several Blue Hose turnovers and used a 13-9 run
to tie the game at 44-44 with 11:05 remaining.
The Blue Hose responded behind the solid play of Birnie
as PC went on a 10-0 run in the next four minutes to push the
lead back on double figures at 56-44. Birnie led the way with
six points during the run. The Lady Rams could not muster a
comeback and fell behind by as many as 19 points (74-55) with
1:33 left in the game. PC turned the tables in the second half
by outrebounding the Lady Rams 23-19 and for the game held a
42-32 edge while limiting the Winston-Salem State to only two
second half offensive rebounds.
Birnie keyed the Blue Hose run with all of her points coming
in the second half to go along with five rebounds and two
steals. Joining Birnie for scoring honors was Leopard with a
game-high 19 points to go with six rebounds while sophomore
guard Billie Haskins
(Greensboro, GA) added 10 points.
Winston-Salem was led by junior forward Monique Kirkland (Durham,
NC) and senior center Tiffany Whitted (Mebane, NC) who
each scored 12 points.
The #18-ranked Blue Hose improve to 5-0 on the season while
the Lady Rams fall to 4-3. Tomorrow night, Presbyterian will
play CIAA-member,
Livingstone College at 4:00 pm followed by the Lady Rams and
host
Lenoir-Rhyne College at 6:00 pm.