Old Rivals Meet Again
12/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2009
ASun.TV | Live Audio | Gametracker
Complete PC Game Notes in PDF Format 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Presbyterian College and the USC Upstate women's basketball team have a storied rivalry. In 35 all-time meetings, the Spartans hold a slim 18-17 advantage, with bragging rights between the two schools separated by just 10 exits on Interstate 26 on the line again on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
The Spartans (5-5 overall) and the Blue Hose (1-9 overall) have the longest standing rivalry of any team on Upstate's 2009-10 schedule and they have won three of the last four meetings, including a 63-55 win in Clinton, S.C., to open the 2008-09 campaign.
Upstate will look to stop a three-game skid after falling to Florida Gulf Coast, 71-56, on Dec. 19 despite outrebounding the Eagles, 37-32. Junior Chelsea McMillan led the Spartans with 19 points and nine rebounds in the game.
The Blue Hose are coming off their first win of the season, a 61-47 triumph over S.C. State on Dec. 14, as Mariah Pietrowski scored 21 points and added five rebounds to lead the team.
Spartan Notables
• The Spartans are 3-1 all-time on Dec. 30, last beating Lenoir-Rhyne, 74-62, in 2006.
• Upstate is 21-11 all-time in the Hodge Center against Big South opponents and 37-30 all-time.
• Upstate has posted its second straight winning non-conference season in three years of Division I play, posting a 5-3 record heading into their last non-conference game today.
• Junior Chelsea McMillan is two points away from becoming the 33rd player in school history to reach 500 career points.
• Sophomore Kendra Wallace has hit a 3-pointer in 36 of 39 career games.
• Senior Courtney Hawkins is just one made free throw made away from becoming the fifth player in school history to reach 300 in a career and one 3-pointer away from becoming the fifth player in school history to reach 100 in a career.
• Freshman Lauren McRoberts has four games of five or more rebounds this year, including eight or more in each of the last two games.
• In nine career games against Big South opponents, senior Courtney Hawkins is averaging 14.6 points per game.
Scouting Presbyterian
The rivalry between USC Upstate and Presbyterian College is one of the most storied in the history of Upstate's athletic program. Like in many other sports, the rivalry in women's basketball is the longest-running non-conference rivalry in the school's history. It is also as close as it can get, with Upstate holding an 18-17 advantage in the all-time series.
Presbyterian (1-9 overall) is led by Mariah Pietrowski, who is averaging 13.0 points and four rebounds per game. Amanda Mills averages 9.3 points and 1.3 assists per game and Dria David also adds 7.2 points, 2.8 assists and 2.7 steals per game.
The Blue Hose won their first game of the season on Dec. 14, a 61-47 decision over S.C. State. The Blue Hose were led by Pietrowski, who posted 21 points and five rebounds in the game. Mills added 14 points, four rebounds and two steals and Devin Fothergill added 12 points, four assists and three steals.
A Rivalry Unmatched
Presbyterian College and USC Upstate have a rivalry that has stretched through several years and classifications, from the AIAW, which included both schools' women's athletic programs until 1982 when the NAIA began sponsoring women's athletics. Both programs made the leap to the NCAA and Division II in the early '90s and now both are in their third year of a transition to Division I. Along the way, the team's have met 35 times, with Upstate holding the slim 18-17 advantage in the series and 18 of the contests being decided by 10 points or less. Among the highlights of the series, here are a few notable games:
Nov. 15, 2008 (Clinton, S.C.) - Courtney Hawkins posts a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Chelsea McMillan debuts with 16 points and nine rebounds, including hitting a jumper from the left elbow with one second on the shot clock with 2:17 left to secure the 63-55 Upstate win.
Nov. 23, 2005 (Clinton, S.C.) - Courtney Bradley hit a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime then hit another with 13 seconds left to lift Upstate to an 88-86 win at the Templeton Arena.
Nov. 30, 1996 (Hodge Center) - Karen Neely tied the game with a driving layup with 26 seconds left and Watoma Williams won the game for PC with a layup with 1:04 left in overtime, as the Blue Hose outlasted the Lady Rifles, 77-75, in the championship of the USCS/Prime Sirloin Tournament.
Dec. 4, 1993 (Clinton, S.C.) - Down 57-51 with 19 seconds left after a pair of free throws from Kyle Watts, USC Spartanburg scored five points to close within one with three seconds left after a 3-pointer from Paula Blackwell, but the Blue Hose held on for the one-point win, one of USCS' four losses in 1993-94.
Jan. 21, 1978 (Hodge Center) - USCS took a 12-point lead by halftime and never looked back in the first meeting between the two schools, as the Lady Rifles posted a 62-25 win, led by 18 points from Julie Pridgeon, the school's first 1,000-point scorer.
Post 500
Junior Chelsea McMillan enters Wednesday's game just two points shy of becoming the 33rd player in school history to reach 500 career points. Amazingly, the Santa Fe Community College transfer is just in her second year at USC Upstate and yet she can become just the 22nd player at Upstate to post 500 points and 300 rebounds in a career. The 6-0 forward nears the mark just 11 games into her second season as a Spartan, a pace faster than eight of the school's 12 1,000-point scorers en route to 500 points.
Unmatched
Senior Courtney Hawkins is just 12 points shy of reaching the top 10 in school history in career scoring, as she is just a dozen points shy of passing Kia Manuel (2000-04). Already among the top 10 in school history in assists (249, ninth), steals (165, seventh), free throws made (299, fifth) and 3-pointers made (99, fifth), Hawkins could become the first player in school history to reach the top 10 in all five categories, helping to demonstrate her amazing versatility as a guard. As it is, with 12 more points, Hawkins can join Jametria Hannah (1988-92, 1,755 points, 318 assists, 240 steals) as the only players in the top 10 in school history in points, assists and steals.
The Downtown Train
The 2009-10 Spartans already have a pair of players in the all-time top 10 in career 3-pointers and each will look to become just the fifth and sixth players to reach 100 career 3-pointers in an Upstate uniform during the season. Senior Courtney Hawkins is currently fifth in school history with 99 threes, needing just one more to reach the mark. Sophomore Kendra Wallace, after hitting 72 as a freshman, is already seventh in school history, passing Shannon Pallardy's mark of 80 with her first of four treys against UNC Asheville. She needs just seven more to reach 100 career trifectas.
