MEN’S BASKETBALL

This past Wednesday, the Piedmont men’s basketball team had a close game against LaGrange; the Lions came close to completing a comeback but fell 80-77.

Senior guard, Andrew Stimpson, brought Piedmont back with a 3-pointer after trailing by 21. The Panthers converted both free throws, with the Lions having the ball to make the final shot.

With 3:08 left, the Lions cut the score to 70-64. With six minutes left on the shot, there was only one shot that the Panthers made.

The rocking atmosphere in the Cave Arena contributed to the Cave Crazies’ success down the stretch. LaGrange was 15-of-23 from the foul line, but the last two minutes of the game with four crucial misses that kept the Lions alive in the game.

“It was definitely a hard-fought loss, and we were down big in the first half and rallied back but came up just short at the end,” said senior forward Aaron Palmer.

Junior guard Devin Dean and senior guard Ryan Jolly both scored 15 points for the Lions. Junior guard Noah Reardon led the team in points with 24 points.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

At the Cave Arena on Wednesday night, Piedmont women’s basketball fell to LaGrange 76-63.

In the final quarter, the Lady Lions were one point ahead, but the Panthers crawled back to dominate the final 10 minutes to win by a 24-10 margin.

The Lady Lions were led by seniors Ashley Scott and Nakiyah Washington, both of which scored 17 points. Washington’s second-half performance was outstanding, with 13 of her 17 points coming in that half.

“We didn’t play defense as well as we are able to and gave up a lot of rebounds,” said freshman guard Riley Bryan.

With a 17-14 lead going into the second quarter, LaGrange never trailed in the first quarter. A buzzer-beating jumper by junior forward Destiny Deetz cut Piedmont’s deficit to three before the Panthers took the lead.

Going into the final 10 minutes of the third quarter, Piedmont fought back to regain the lead by one point.

In the remaining minutes, it was all LaGrange from there, as it took a 60-59 lead with 5:01 to finish the game, outsourcing the Lions 16-4 in the process.

“Definitely not happy by the end result, but very fired up to play them again soon,” said Bryan.

The Lady Lions will be on the road this Saturday, Jan. 28, as they take on Covenant.