Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College women's basketball team earned a 77-60 win over hosting USA South member Averett University earlier today to move to 7-1 in conference play and 14-2 overall.

Piedmont held just a 2-point lead at the break, but shut down the Cougars' offense in the second half to roll to the 17-point decision.  In 11 of Piedmont's 14 wins so far this season, the Lady Lions have scored 77 points or more. 

JULIANNE BAYER came up just one point shy of another double-double with nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds while Piedmont also posted its best shooting percentage from the free throw line since a January 3 win over NC Wesleyan connecting on better than 68%. 

Three Lady Lions were in double figures including the season's leading scorer LE'SHAUNDA JONES who had a team-high 12 points on 50% shooting from the field connecting on her only 3-point try.  It was Jones' three-point try that put Piedmont in front for good when the Lady Lions overtook the Cougars in the back-and-forth opening minutes of the second half.

Putting up a season-high 11 was sophomore ERIN CLIFFORD with all three of her field goals coming from distance. Clifford's three-pointer with just under a minute to go in the first half tied the score after Averett led for much of the opening period.  

CHANDLER ALVERSON's jumper seconds after Clifford hit from distance gave Piedmont its 2-point lead at the break though Averett was in front for an 11-minute stretch up to that point.  Piedmont had surged out in front early racing out to a 7-1 lead in the opening minutes, but the home team fought to tie the score at 14 with 11:53 to go in the first half. 

Only four Lady Lions played more than 20 minutes in what turned into a decided contest midway through the second half after Piedmont went on a 23-4 run that lasted just over eight minutes to open up its largest lead of the game to that point. 

With Piedmont up 22 and 7:32 remaining, Averett dug into the Lady Lion lead but could never creep closer than 17, the final margin in the conference contest between the two.  

Winners of nine of the last ten, PC's 77-60 win over Averett puts the Lady Lions at a perfect 3-0 vs. the Cougars since PC became a USA South member in the 2012-13 season.  Piedmont has also now won 13 of its last 17 regular season contests in USA South play dating back to last season's win at home over Averett on January 26.  

After a 2-game road swing this past weekend, Piedmont will now return home for its next action hosting Covenant College on Wednesday night for a 7:30 pm tip off.  The mid-week contest will be the first of two against Covenant for PC this season as the Lady Lions travel to Lookout Mountain two weeks later for a February 11 date against the Scots.

The Lady Lions now have nothing by South Division opponents left in conference play after putting up an impressive 7-1 record against teams from the North Division of the USA South this season.  

The Covenant game will be carried live on the Mane Event Broadcasting Network and on WCON radio with the pre-game show starting at approximately 7:00 pm on WCON radio.