Box Score Raleigh, NC - The Piedmont College women's basketball team was tied at halftime of tonight's road affair against William Peace University before heading to a second half surge that helped PC claim a 75-64 win in USA South Athletic Conference play.  The Pacers could not handle the offensive production of PC in the second half led by youngster and local product Carly Sales, a Habersham Central High School graduate who scored a career-high 17 points tonight, all of which came in the second half. 

Piedmont opened with four straight points on the evening before watching William Peace jump in front on back-to-back three's in about a 30 second timespan.  The two stayed tight for much of the first half as neither led by more than four points in the first 20 minutes as Piedmont struggled to distance itself from the hosting Pacers hitting on just two of 14 first half three-point attempts. 

Piedmont took 49 shots compared to 34 for the Pacers, but could not make the extra chances count finding themselves tied at the break, 32-32 with William Peace who was looking for their first conference win.  The Lady Lions only got to the line for four free throws in the first half as well but would get to the line for 15 tries in the second half as part of a surge that handed PC the road win.

After the intermission, the Lady Lions scored seven of the first nine points to start the second half setting the tone with a three-pointer from Gabby Arencibia 22 seconds in.  Arencibia scored nine of her 16 on the night in the second half shooting 50% from the field over the final 20 minutes. 

Taking a 37-34 lead on a Symone Ball jumper at the 18:12 mark, it was then time for the Carly Sales show as the Habersham Central graduate scored the next six points for PC all coming on layups with good looks down low.  Sales' early second half effort was key in a 15-3 run by Piedmont who took a commanding 54-39 lead midway through the half with Sales and teammate Arencibia accounting for all but two of their team's 15 points in that run.

From that point on, PC would mostly keep the lead in double digits except brief periods including the 7-minute mark of the second half when five straight points by the home team cut the Lady Lion lead down to seven at 58-51 with 6:50 to play.  However, four of Piedmont's ten free throws made in the second half helped push PC back in front by 11 as Le'Shaunda Jones and Charlotte Lewallen combined to provide the cushion at the charity stripe.

Another Carly Sales layup with under a minute to go gave Piedmont a 14-point lead at 74-60 as the visiting squad assumed control during that run in the beginning of the second half.  Though a late three-pointer by William Peace connected, PC would go on to win by double digits at 75-64, the team's third straight USA South win in as many tries as all three have come by a double digit margin.

Three Lady Lions scored in double figures on the night including Symone Ball with her ten, Gabby Arencibia with her 16, and Carly Sales with 17 as the trio combined to go 18 of 32 from the field carrying the offensive load.  Arencibia scored her 16 on a night when PC struggled to connect from beyond the three-point line as the newcomer to Head Coach Jamie Purdy's roster accounted for two of the Lady Lions' three tri-fectas made on the night.

Sales was the story though on the night as her 17 came on an incredible 8-of-9 shooting from the field as the freshman set the tempo in the start of the second half scoring six of Piedmont's first 11 points after halftime.  All nine of those field goals came within the arc as Sales connected on her only free throw of the night and pulled down a half dozen rebounds to tie for the team lead in that category along with Arencibia.

For Ball, her ten points came on 4-of-9 shooting as she also accumulated five steals on the night, second only to teammate Le'Shaunda Jones in that column.  Also having a steady contribution on the night was senior Lauren Hamel who scored eight points on four of seven shooting.

The victory moves Piedmont to a 9-3 start on the season and keeps the Lady Lions' perfect record intact in league play with the girls from Demorest now sitting at 3-0.  PC dropped its first four games of USA South in its debut season last year and is in the midst of a dramatic conference turnaround as the Lady Lions are halfway to their total amount of conference wins from the 2012-13 campaign with 13 league games to go, needing just four wins in that stretch to surpass last season's mark.

PC will now return home for a Sunday, January 12th game against North Carolina Wesleyan College in the Cave as a part of "Habitat for Humanity" night.  The Battling Bishops are the fourth straight USA South foe for Piedmont.  Tip off in the conference contest is set for 1:00 pm.