Lady Eagles hope to stay perfect vs. Presbyterian

By Karl Lyles - klyles@heraldonline.com

If history holds form, Winthrop should start the Big South Conference schedule with a win at home today against Presbyterian College. Game time is set for 4 p.m.

Winthrop has never lost to Presbyterian. The school is in its third year transitioning to Division I athletics and second season in the Big South Conference. The Lady Eagles are 11-0 against the Blue Hose, and PC comes into the game with a 1-11 record.

Winthrop won 47-35 in Clinton last year and then scored a season-high 77 points in a 29-point win on Feb. 7, 2009, at the Winthrop Coliseum.

PC doesn't play well on the road. The Blue Hose are riding a 35-game losing streak in road contests. They haven't won away from home since Dec. 4, 2007.

The Blue Hose are young, as they have seven freshmen on the roster, including three starters. The best of them is freshman center Mariah Pietrowski. She already has earned three Big South Freshman of the Week honors, and she leads the conference in field goal percentage (.595) and is sixth in scoring (11.8).

The Blue Hose have lost nine of their games this season by 10 or more points, including a 19-point setback at USC Upstate on Wednesday. To their credit, PC has played a good schedule with games at Syracuse, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Alabama. Winthrop can't touch that strength of schedule. The Lady Eagles loaded up on Division II opponents this season with Coker, USC Aiken and Augusta State all visiting the Coliseum.

Winthrop (5-7) lost at home on Wednesday to Mercer, 58-49, in its only home date with a nonconference Division I opponent. The loss doesn't look good for the Lady Eagles, assuming the team intends to finish in the upper half of the conference standings this season.

Mercer was beaten 81-71 at High Point on Monday. High Point was picked as a preseason co-favorite to win the Big South. Winthrop was picked sixth among the nine BSC teams in the preseason poll.

Presbyterian has had trouble scoring and stopping other teams from doing so. The Blue Hose rank eighth in the conference in scoring offense and defense. They have been outscored, on average, by almost 22 points a game.

If you pay any attention to statistics, one that stands out for today's game is turnovers. Presbyertian and Winthrop are at the bottom of the league in that category. Winthrop has turned the ball over 23.8 times a game, five more than last year's average. Presbyterian averages 26.3 turnovers a game.

Winthrop has kept its turnover total under 20 just two times this season. On Nov. 27, the Lady Eagles committed 12 turnovers in a 72-59 win over Utah Valley. On Dec. 12, the team had 18 turnovers in a 73-50 win over Augusta State. It is no coincidence that those two games represent Winthrop's highest scoring totals this season.

The Big South has three other games today. Liberty (7-3) is at Gardner-Webb (11-2). Gardner-Webb received six votes in last week's ESPN/USA Today poll. It is the third week in a row the Lady Bulldogs have received votes in the national coaches poll this season.

Meanwhile, Charleston Southern (6-5) visits High Point (7-6), and Coastal Carolina (9-3) plays at UNC Asheville (4-8).