BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – On a night where head coach Alex Simmons and her staff honored graduate student Neydja Petithomme and senior Ky'Asia Stanford, junior Savannah Plentovich stole the show. Plentovich led the way with 22 points in Gardner-Webb's 67-62 win over the Presbyterian College Blue Hose on Wednesday.

The two teams were knotted at 15 following the first quarter, but the Runnin' Bulldogs used a 15-7 second quarter to take the lead over the Blue Hose and never looked back. 

Presbyterian (6-22, 4-13 Big South) took a 22-20 lead three minutes into the second period, but S. Plentovich's back-to-back triples less than 35 seconds apart put Gardner-Webb in front for good.

Plentovich gave the Runnin' Bulldogs a four-point advantage at the time, and would beat the buzzer to end the second quarter as Gardner-Webb led, 30-22, at the intermission.

Gardner-Webb (15-14, 9-8 Big South) took its first double-digit lead when Stanford scored the opening bucket of the third quarter, and although PC was able to cut into the lead, the Runnin' Bulldogs seemed to always have an answer.

Gardner-Webb held a 10-point lead, 42-32, when S. Plentovich converted from beyond the arc with 4:26 to go in the quarter, but a 6-0 run by the Blue Hose made it a two possession game.

Presbyterian's Trinity Johnson and Tess Santos combined to score all six points during the Blue Hose's run, which lasted 2:32.

The Runnin' Bulldogs were held scoreless for more than three minutes but answered in a big way. Stanford and Jhessyka Williams helped Gardner-Webb re-gain a double-digit lead, as Williams' three-pointer with four ticks of the clock left in the quarter gave the home team a 50-40 advantage.

The Runnin' Bulldogs largest lead of the game was 13 points and came at multiple points over the final 10 minutes.

Presbyterian slowly cut into Gardner-Webb's lead and after Robyn Bouwer went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe with 1:36 remaining, the 'Dogs would not score again.

The Blue Hose scored the final six points of the contest, including a meaningless jumper as time expired, but left Boiling Springs with a loss.

The 67-62 win helped Gardner-Webb get above .500 in Big South play with one game remaining in the regular season.  

S. Plentovich went 5-of-7 from beyond the arc en route to a game-high 22 points for the Runnin' Bulldogs and was one basket away from setting a new career-high. Petithomme also reached double figures, contributing 11 points and dishing out seven assists. Stanford filled the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds and five assists, while Nia Lee set a career-high with 11 rebounds.

Trinity Johnson paced Presbyterian with 18 points, while Shamani Stafford and Tess Santos contributed 16 and 13 points respectively. Coming into the game, PC's Kacie Hall ranked 10^th nationally in three-point field goal percentage, but a solid defensive effort by Gardner-Webb limited Hall to just two points and an 0-of-3 night from deep.

The Runnin' Bulldogs will conclude the regular season with a contest at USC Upstate on Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m. Following the battle with the Spartans, the 'Dogs will learn their seed for the upcoming Big South Conference tournament, which begins with first round games at campus sites on March 12.  The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played at the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds on March 14 and 15, while the championship game will be played at the highest remaining seed on March 17.