Box Score Mt. Berry, GA - The Piedmont College women's basketball team saw its season long four-game winning streak come to end at the hands of the Vikings of Berry College earlier today who handed the visiting Lady Lions a 12-point defeat.  For Piedmont, the 88-76 loss snaps its longest winning streak since the 2011-12 campaign that saw the squad go on two streaks of four wins or more including a 12-game winning stretch to open the season leading to a national ranking for the Lady Lions in that season.

PC was stifled early defensively scoring just 26 points in the first half, their lowest first half point total in 2013-14 so far.  The Lady Lions also struggled to keep Berry off the glass being outrebounded for just the second time this season with the only other instance coming in the team's season opener against Centre College - the squad's only other loss so far this year.

Piedmont held a two point lead in a low scoring first half ahead 12-10 with just over 12 minutes to play as a fast break layup from Symone Ball gave the visitors the slim advantage. The margin lasted just 18 seconds though as Berry was quick to tie the game on a Chanlir Segarra field goal before a Piedmont foul gave Segarra a chance for three the old fashioned way, a play which she completed at the line to give the Vikings a 13-12 lead. 

The two battled for the lead over the next few minutes with Piedmont reclaiming the advantage on a three-point play of their own by Elise Reyes who got the bucket and the foul to put PC ahead 17-16 at the 9:10 mark of the half.  However, Berry used the next five minutes to go on an 11-2 run to pull ahead on the way to half time.

After the Lady Lions fell behind in the first half by double digits with just under four to go, it would be tough for the visitors to get back in the game as Piedmont shot just 11.1% from beyond the arc in the first half.  Poor shooting from downtown resulted in a 16-point deficit at the half, their largest such deficit of the year, as Piedmont went into the break down 42-26.

After the intermission, Berry went up by 22 after five quick points to start the second half as they capitalized on Piedmont's offensive issues.  However, the Lady Lions improved their shooting in the second half to start to cut down the home team lead getting it down to nine points with 12:24 to play at 53-44.  The Vikings, who shot better than 55% from three-point land in the second half, then connected on a three pointer moments later to push the lead back up to double digits at 12.

The Vikings continued to keep their lead down the stretch as another tri-fecta with 3:35 to go pushed the Berry margin as large as it was in the second half at 22 with Piedmont trailing 84-62.  The Lady Lions did score 14 of the final 18 points of the game over the final few minutes but fell in the eventual 88-76 road decision snapping a four-game winning streak in 2013-14.

Three Lady Lions scored in double figures on the day with Taylor Swoszowski leading the way tallying a dozen points on four of five shooting from the field with all four of her field goal tries coming from behind the three-point line.  Tied with Swoszowski for the team high in points was Mary Kate Rushton who earned her 12 from inside the arc and at the charity stripe where she was a perfect four for four.

Also in double figures was Symone Ball who totaled ten points on four of nine shooting as she was held below 50% from the field for just the third time in six games on the season.  Ball was also the team's leader in rebounds with her nine while Chandler Alverson added a half dozen as well.

Three players had a trio of assists to top PC in that department with Alverson, Lauren Hamel, and Brianna Barrett each dishing out three helpers.  Piedmont's bench helped keep the Lady Lions in the game scoring 49 points to just 10 for Berry's reserves, a key advantage that PC continues to have in 2013-14.

With the result, PC falls to 4-2 on the season picking up their first loss in five games. The Lady Lions have now 11 days off from competition returning to the court after finals for an away contest at the home of local rival Toccoa Falls College on Thursday, December 12th.  That road contest is set for a 6:00 pm tip off.