Preview: Presbyterian Blue Hose at South Carolina Upstate Spartans

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Interstat) — Two Big South women’s basketball teams seeking to halt extended slides will meet Wednesday when the Presbyterian Blue Hose visit the South Carolina Upstate Spartans at the G.B. Hodge Center.

Presbyterian (2-14) enters on a 10-game losing streak, most recently a 76-43 home loss to High Point on Jan. 7. The Blue Hose have struggled offensively during the skid, failing to reach 60 points in nine of those contests. Guard Ore Ogunwolere, a player to watch, averages 5.0 points and has logged significant minutes.

South Carolina Upstate (5-13) has lost five straight, including narrow defeats to Winthrop (66-64) and Gardner-Webb (64-61) to open conference play. The Spartans are led by guard Aubrie Kierscht, who is coming off a 25-point performance in the loss at Gardner-Webb. She provides the primary scoring threat for a team that has also faced offensive consistency issues outside of a 112-point outing against non-Division I Agnes Scott.

The matchup represents one of the more winnable opportunities on both teams’ conference schedules. Defense will likely be critical; Presbyterian allows an average of 75.1 points per game, while Upstate yields 62.2.

This is the first of two regular-season meetings between the programs. They will play again in Clinton, S.C., on Feb. 4.

Following this game, Presbyterian will host UNC Asheville on Saturday. South Carolina Upstate travels to face UNC Asheville next Wednesday.