CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team gathered at the Mabry-Smith-Yonce Center last week to recognize its student-athletes with team awards and recap the team's historic 2012-13 season, a campaign that saw the Blue Hose capture the most wins since 2005-06 and book their first trip to the postseason since 2001-02.
PC finished the season with a 19-12 record and a 14-4 marker in the Big South, finishing in a tie for second place in the league. The record marked the team's highest win total in Division I and highest finish since joining the Big South in 2007-08.
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 (Asheville, N.C.) was also voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the League's sports information directors and Mariah Pietrowski (Elizabethton, Tenn.) was selected to the All-Big South Conference Second Team.
The season ended with trip to the Women's Basketball Invitational to face Lamar in Port Arthur, Texas, the team's first postseason game since taking on Virginia State in the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2002.
To kick off the banquet, Coach Fisher issued his annual team awards. Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) and Taylor received Academic Awards for their strong work in the classroom. Smith boasts a 3.95 grade point average as an elementary education major and Taylor has compiled a 3.73 GPA as a mathematics major with a secondary education minor.
Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) received the team's Most Improved Player award. Allen played 30 of the team's 31 games, starting 12. She averaged 3.5 points per game and 3.0 rebounds and exploded for 18 points in a game against Brevard on December 11.
Devin Fothergill (Somerset, Ky.) earned the Braveheart Award for her commitment and dedication. The senior guard battled through bumps and bruises to turn in a career season, setting new highs in assists (75) and rebounds (3.2 per game) while starting a career-high 22 games. The guard set the team's Division I record for rebounds in a single game last season with 17 against Coastal Carolina and ranks second in Division I career assists, with 193.
Taylor also took home the Outstanding Shooter Award. The junior guard ranked second in the country with a 48.3 percent three-point field goal shooting percentage, a new Division I high for the program and a percentage that helped her to an 11.0 point per game clip. The Blue Hose also ranked third in the nation in three-point field goal percentage and the junior set a new program single-season record with 85 treys.
Pietrowski and Dria David (Lawrenceville, Ga.) rounded out the awards as Co-Most Valuable Players. Pietrowski led the Big South in field goal percentage (55.7 percent) and free-throw percentage (84.0) while ranking in the overall top 20 in scoring (13) and rebounding (18). The senior posted double-doubles in wins over Campbell and UNC Asheville this season and is one of seven players in PC history with 1,200 points and 600 rebounds. Pietrowski holds the school's Division I records in scoring, scoring average, rebounds, field goals made, field goals attempted and field goal percentage.
David set career-highs in scoring (10.7 points per game), assists (113), three-point percentage (.279) and three-point field goals (19) while averaging a career-best 34.1 minutes per game. The senior guard ranked fourth in the Big South in assists and holds the eighth spot in program history, with 330. She will also leave PC with the fifth-most career steals (223) and posted 976 total points.
The team bid farewell to seniors Pietrowski, David, Fothergill, Shonda Burnside (Gray Court, S.C.), Chelsea Parker (Asheville, N.C.) and Olivia-Towers Solis at the banquet as well. Burnside shot at a .429 clip from the floor (112-261) this season, 76 points better than her previous career-best as a freshman, and set career-bests in scoring (8.3 points per game), minutes (22.3), field goal percentage, rebounds (4.0), assists (44), blocks (33) and steals (21). Parker will leave as the Division I record-holder in games played, with 118, a record unlikely to be broken soon. Together, the six combined for 631 games, 3,580 points and 2,243 rebounds in their time at PC.
PC put together a six-game winning streak that included victories over Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, Campbell, High Point, Radford and Longwood and marked the program's longest since the 2005-06 season and its longest such streak while playing in the Big South Conference.
PC kicked off its season in style, winning its season opener at Clemson on November 11, 49-46. Dria David scored a career-high 19 points and hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Blue Hose their first-ever win over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in its 12th try. PC never trailed in the game, fighting off six ties and forcing 17 turnovers en route to the win.
David also scored a career-high 21 points to help PC overcome a six-point halftime deficit to knock off the UCF Knights on December 17, 53-49. PC snapped a six-game losing streak when trailing at the break and held UCF to 19.4 percent shooting in the second half (6-for-31). David played 39 minutes and led the team in points, assists (four), rebounds (seven) and steals (three).
PC's victory in Orlando in December moved the Blue Hose to 1-1 against Conference USA in 2012-13 with a win over UCF and a loss to Marshall. The Blue Hose also went 1-2 against the Atlantic Coast Conference, handling Clemson for losses at Duke and NC State.
PC outlasted a Liberty Flames rally on January 3 to earn a Big South Conference victory in thrilling fashion, 51-49. The Blue Hose enjoyed its largest lead of the game with 5:08 after building a 13-point advantage, 51-38. PC then withstood an 11-point Liberty run to hold on for the victory, its first-ever in 10 meetings with the 15-time league champions.
One of the team's most thrilling wins came on January 5 at Campbell. PC erased a 21-point halftime deficit to force overtime and knock off the Camels, 68-62. Down 40-19 at halftime, PC shot 70.6 percent (12-for-17) in the second half to outscore the home side 37-16 in the period and 12-6 in overtime. The Blue Hose trailed by 16 with 7:57 left in regulation and finished the second half on an 18-2 run to force the bonus period. Dria David sunk a free throw with 1.6 seconds left to send the game into overtime and scored eight straight points to reverse a 62-60 overtime deficit and seal the victory. Kasey Hobbie (Spring Lake, N.J.) also knocked down six three-pointers for a career-high 20 points.
PC delivered an historic Senior Night on Febuary 23, knocking off High Point in a thriller on ESPN3, 71-69. PC rallied from a first-half deficit to lead by as many as 13 in the second, before eventually pulling away in the final minutes to take its first-ever win over the Panthers in the 11th meeting. David scored 16 of her team-high 20 points in the second.
After 18 Big South games, PC boasted the league's best field goal percentage (43.2 overall, 46.1 percent conference-only) in the conference. The Blue Hose also led in three-point field goal percentage (38.7 overall, 41.9 percent conference-only) and ranked second in field goal percentage defense (35.2 percent) and rebounding defense (32.5 rebounds allowed) in conference-only statistics.
The team will return seven players in Taylor, Smith, Hobbie, Allen as well as Noelle Carter (Neptune, N.J.) Megan Schaaf (Ellicott City, Md.), Katelyn Grisillo (Charleston, S.C.) and Taryn Richard (Palm City, Fla.).
