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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
riversbigsouth
49
Presbyterian PC 7-24 (4-14 BSC)
60
Winner Radford RADFORD 24-6 (17-1 BSC)
Presbyterian PC
7-24 (4-14 BSC)
49
Final
60
Radford RADFORD
24-6 (17-1 BSC)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Presbyterian PC 9 12 14 14 49
Radford RADFORD 9 14 15 22 60

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

TOP-SEEDED HIGHLANDERS ADVANCE TO FOURTH STRAIGHT BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL AFTER 60-49 VICTORY AGAINST NO. 9 PRESBYTERIAN

Postgame Press Conference

Radford, Va. – The top-seeded Radford women's basketball team advanced to their fourth consecutive Big South semifinal after defeating the No. 9 seeded Presbyterian Blue Hose, 60-49, in the Big South Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday evening at the Dedmon Center. The Highlanders, who are now 24-6 overall, will play No. 4 seeded UNC Asheville (17-14), who knocked-off No. 5 seeded Gardner-Webb in the second quarterfinal of the evening. 

"Tonight was an incredibly hard-fought game," said Highlander head coach Mike McGuire. "Credit Presbyterian on just an outstanding effort as they are extremely well-coached and play very hard. They have a very bright future and play as hard as anyone in our league.

I thought our kids really gutted one out," McGuire continued. Obviously the free throws in the second-half were huge and Lydia [Rivers] and Destinee [Walker] were big with 49 points between them. We are happy that we won and are looking forward to tomorrow night."
 
Radford red-shirt junior Lydia Rivers was sensational, producing a career and game-high 25 points along with a game-high 14 rebounds and six blocks (career-high). The Kinston, North Carolina native went 5-for-8 from the floor and knocked down a career-best 15-of-18 free throws in 34 minutes of action. The First Team All-Big South selection played all 20 minutes in the second-half and scored 18 points in the stanza, while hitting all ten of her attempts from the line.
 
Rivers received plenty of help from senior guard/forward Destinee Walker, who produced 17 of her 24 points in the second-half.  The Highlanders other First Team All-Conference pick scored 15 points in the fourth quarter as she converted 15-of-16 free throws over the final ten minutes. The Florence, South Carolina native went just 2-for-14 from the floor but swished a career-high 18-of-20 from the charity-stripe. Walker, who set a new program record for free-throw makes in a contest, also hit both of the Highlanders' 3-pointers.
 
Second Team All-Big South performer Sydney Nunley grabbed 12 caroms and added two rejections.
 
Radford set a new Big South Tournament record and a program-record in both makes and attempts as they went 38-for-50 (76 percent) from the free-throw line in the contest. The Blue Hose (7-24) went to the line just seven times and converted all of their attempts.
 
The Highlanders shot a season-low 22.7 percent from the floor as they hit just 10-of-44 attempts, including only 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) from long-distance.  Presbyterian was slightly better as they made 18-of-63 (28.6 percent) of their attempts, including 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) from behind the arc.
 
The score was deadlocked at 9-9 after the opening quarter as both teams struggled to overcome their nerves.  The visitors led 14-11 with 8:12 left before the half, however, red-shirt junior point guard Jen Falconer scored on a baseline drive and Walker followed with her second trifecta to give the hosts a 16-14 edge with 4:19 left.
 
There would be three more ties down the stretch until Rivers and Walker both went 1-of-2 from the line over the final 1:09 to spot the Highlanders a 23-21 advantage at the break.
 
Radford went just 2-for-12 from the floor in the third quarter, however, the Highlanders were 11-of-12 from the line and led 38-35 heading into the fourth stanza. The game was tied six times in the quarter until Radford scored the final four points. Rivers connected on two free-throws with 1:44 remaining and scored at the horn, after pulling down an offensive board.
 
The Highlanders outscored the Blue Hose by a 5-2 margin over the first 3:17 of the fourth quarter to take their largest lead at 43-37. Rivers converted inside off a feed from Walker, Walker hit two from the stripe and Nunley split her two attempts to account for the scoring.
 
Presbyterian closed to within 43-39 at the 6:24 mark after a layup by Salina Virola, but Nunley found Rivers for another bucket on the interior and Walker hit two more from the line to spot the Highlanders a 47-39 lead with 5:39 on the clock.
 
The Blue Hose were still within five, 51-46, with 1:01 left but Radford scored seven straight points, all from the line, to put the game out of reach at 58-46 with just 22 ticks left.

Radford out-rebounded the Blue Hose by a 45-40 margin and had 16 second-chance points compared to eight by the visitors. Presbyterian had 12 miscues against 11 by the hosts.

Tess Santos paced Presbyterian with 13 points and Trinity Johnson added 12 points.
 
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