BEAUMONT, Texas – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team (19-11,
14-4 Big South) makes its first postseason appearance since 2001-02 when PC
faces Lamar in the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational on
Wednesday at 8 p.m. The appearance marks
PC's first in the four-year-old, 16-team tournament. The Blue Hose will enter
as the No. 7 seed in the West Region while No. 2 Lamar hosts the first-ever
meeting at Lamar State College-Port Arthur.
Live audio will be available via LamarCardinals.com.
PC holds a 19-27 all-time postseason record and will play
its first non-conference tournament postseason game since falling to Virginia
Union in the NCAA South Atlantic (Div. II) Regional on March 7, 2002, 65-56. PC
has dropped its last eight non-regular season games.
Lamar brings a 21-10 record into Wednesday's matchup, with a
12-6 Southland Conference marker for a third-place finish. The Lady Cardinals
lead the Southland Conference in field goal percentage defense (36.1 percent)
and rank second in scoring defense, scoring margin, three-point field goal
percentage defense, steals and turnover margin. Kalis Loyd paces Lamar with
17.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Despite a comeback bid that held Radford to no field goals
in the final 9:59, PC fell in the quarterfinals of the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big
South Women's Basketball Championship at The HTC Center on March 8, 41-38.
Shonda Burnside led PC with a game-high 14 points. Karlee Taylor added eight
points while Mariah Pietrowski's six rebounds led the team in boards.
A win over Lamar would send PC into the second round of the
WBI and a trip to either Utah State or South Dakota for a game to be played on
either Saturday, March 23 or Sunday, March 24.
PC earned three Big South Conference honors after the
season, led by head coach Ronny Fisher earning the Coach of the Year award as
voted by the League's head coaches and media panel. Karlee Taylor was also
voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the League's sports information directors
and Mariah Pietrowski was selected to the All-Big South Conference Second Team.
The Blue Hose have leaned heavily on experience this season,
with Shonda Burnside, Dria David, Devin Fothergill, Chelsea Parker, Mariah
Pietrowski and Olivia Towers-Solis returning for their senior years. Together,
the six have combined for 626 games, 3,612 points and 2,228 rebounds in their
time at PC. Parker appeared in her 117 game on March 8, setting a new Division
I era record.
Head coach Ronny Fisher's 51th career win on March 2 (31th
win in the Big South) moved him closer to second place in the PC record books.
Ranking third in program history, he stands 22 away from by both Randy Randall
and Byron Rucker in second. Fisher, in his fifth year at the helm, set the
school record for wins in the Division-I era (19) and Big South wins (14) this
season.
