Presbyterian College restored order in the second half and, led by 27 points from Bryanna Belton, defeated Columbia College, 63-52, in a Sunday-afternoon women’s basketball game at Templeton Center.

Belton, a sixth-year center from Goodyear, Ariz., buried 11/15 shots with nary a three-pointer and 5/8 free throws as the Blue Hose broke the game open with a 23-11 third quarter.

How did the Koalas, an NAIA member, match the Blue Hose in the first half?

Oh, PC (9-6) shot .136 (3/22) from the floor in the second quarter. That helped.

In the game, the Blue Hose shot .186 (5/27) from three-point distance. That helped, too.

The score was tied halfway through the third quarter when the Blue Hose stopped Columbia College (8-7) from scoring for 10 minutes

In the second half, the Koalas, led in scoring by Anaya Muhammad with 15 points, shot .261 (6/23) from the floor. That helped the opposite way.
“Coming out in the third quarter we went on a tear,” PC head coach Alaura Sharp stated. “We had a bunch of stops in a row and we were able to free ourselves up offensively. We started moving the ball around and looking more like ourselves. That is when we got our lead and we built some momentum from there.”
One of those precious PC three-pointers, by Mara Neira, helped Presbyterian build an early 15-6 lead, but Columbia scored eight in a row, and PC led by only one at period’s end.

The Koalas took their first lead at 26-25 in the second quarter. Nuria Cunill’s two free throws allowed PC to tie the game, 31-all, at halftime.

Then the Blue Hose took off, surpassing the Koalas 15-2 in one stretch, and PC led, 54-41, entering the fourth quarter. The Koalas went scoreless from the 5:11 of the third quarter to 3:53 of the fourth.

Too little, too late, Columbia at least made it respectable by scoring the final nine points of the game.

Cunill secured 17 of Presbyterian’s 51 rebounds, 17 more than Columbia College. Paige Kindseth and Ashley Carrillo each distributed three assists.

Wednesday finds Charleston Southern visiting for the first Big South Conference game, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Take a look at the stats here.

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