The Presbyterian College women’s basketball team will begin its postseason campaign on Wednesday, March 4, facing USC Upstate in the first round of the Big South Tournament. The game is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Presbyterian enters the tournament as the No. 9 seed with a season record of 3-26 overall and 1-15 in conference play. The Blue Hose are led by head coach Tiffany Sardin, who is in her second season with a record of 9-50 at Presbyterian.
USC Upstate holds the No. 8 seed with an overall record of 11-19 and a conference mark of 6-10. Jason Williams serves as their head coach in his fourth season.
In their last regular-season games on February 28, Presbyterian fell to Longwood 89-57 while USC Upstate defeated High Point 55-50.
For Presbyterian, senior Ja’Cia Cunningham leads the offense with an average of 10.7 points per game and has reached double figures in scoring fifteen times this season. Aminata Tal follows as the team’s second-leading scorer and was recently named to the Big South All-Academic Team.
Junior Ore Ogunwolere leads Presbyterian in assists (70), steals (56), and minutes played per game (30.5). She ranks fifth in the league for steals per game and tenth for assists. Sophomore Daniella Velez has also contributed significantly, especially towards the end of the season, including a career-high performance against Longwood where she scored seventeen points.
Freshman Allie Sykes has been effective from beyond the arc and at the free throw line throughout her debut year, making twenty-eight three-pointers and converting over ninety-one percent of her free throws.
Sophomore Krystal Haddock leads Presbyterian in rebounding with an average of 5.7 boards per game this season and has posted three double-doubles during conference play. Haddock also set a new program record by grabbing twelve offensive rebounds against Charleston Southern earlier this year.
Presbyterian’s all-time record in Big South Tournament play stands at ten wins and eleven losses. The team captured its first-ever Big South Championship title in 2024 but lost to UNC Asheville last year during opening-round action.
USC Upstate concluded its regular season winning three out of four games. Cassie Gallagher leads their offense with an average of fifteen point seven points per contest and was named to the Big South Second Team; Aubrie Kierscht tops conference statistics for three-point shooting percentage.
The historical series between Presbyterian and USC Upstate is tied at twenty-eight wins each since their first meeting in nineteen seventy-eight; however, USC Upstate won both matchups this season including their latest encounter on February fourth by a scoreline of seventy-three to sixty-three. This tournament matchup marks their first postseason meeting within Big South competition.
Nine newcomers joined Coach Sardin’s roster this year—four transfers along with five freshmen—the largest freshman class since two thousand twenty-two/twenty-three academic year; meanwhile seniors Shelby Fiddler and Aminata Tal headline returning players from last year’s squad alongside sophomores Morgan Boyd and Daniella Velez.
Tickets for upcoming games are available via BlueHosetix.com while updates can be found through @BlueHoseWBB social media accounts.
The winner between Presbyterian College and USC Upstate will advance to face top-seeded High Point University Thursday morning at eleven thirty a.m., also airing live on ESPN+.
