ATLANTA—Montana Harris led with 22 points and the Oglethorpe women's basketball team was well on the way to the century mark through the first half on the way to defeating Piedmont 84-77 Tuesday evening in the home opener at Dorough Field House. Like the season opener last weekend, the Stormy Petrels brought the storm in the first half then weathered a storm in the third quarter on the way to the win.

Harris' 22 points came next to seven rebounds and three steals. She went 9-for-16 from the field. Keimarya Rivera (18), Briley Elder (17), Sheraton Foster (13) and Malia Melton (12) all hit double figures as well.

Rivera picked up two fouls early but still managed a solid game with three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Elder went 5-of-10 from the perimeter to go with five rebounds and two assists.

Foster posted six assists, and Melton posted seven rebounds.

Oglethorpe suffered from a brief slow start that saw the Petrels trailing 9-2 after two minutes, but a 48-27 run the rest of the half helped them build a 14-point lead at the intermission.

The game looked to be well in hand until Piedmont opened the second half on a 17-2 run to take the lead. Things went back and forth the rest of the third quarter, then it was Oglethorpe with a big run to take the lead for good.

This run, 8-1 to end the third then 9-0 to start the fourth, matched Piedmont's that started the second half as Oglethorpe went back ahead by 13 and had little trouble the rest of the way.

Game Notes

• Oglethorpe moved to 2-0 on the season.
• Foster also picked up three steals and had two rebounds, and she connected on her only 3-point attempt of the game. That 3-pointer capped a strong Oglethorpe run to end the first half.
• The game featured six ties and nine lead changes.
• Oglethorpe is now 12-13 in the all-time head-to-head series against Piedmont. This includes winning three of the last four.

Up Next

Oglethorpe makes the short trip to Emory this weekend for two nonconference games. The first will be versus Oberlin on Saturday at 3p.m., then the Stormy Petrels will face No. 7 Washington & Lee Sunday at 1 p.m. Oglethorpe returns home next Tuesday at 6 p.m. for Agnes Scott.