ROCK HILL, SC--The Marlene Stollings era at Winthrop started off with a bang as the women's basketball program set a number of records and firsts as it posted an 18-13 record in 2011-12. The Eagles combined for 45 "firsts" and records during the season that saw the team post just the second winning season since it began play on the NCAA Division I level in 1986.

“This was an incredible record breaking first season filled with many team accomplishments culminating into several individual awards,” said Stollings, who became just the second Winthrop coach to ever garner Big South Conference Coach of the Year honors. “We have laid a strong foundation for success in our first season. The players fully understand our system and will leave us this spring knowing what they need to do in the off-season to grow, mature and meet or exceed expectations for next year.”

The records started to fall in the season opener at Troy with the most ever points scored on the road in a season opener by a Winthrop team and it didn't stop there. A few days after that junior Diana Choibekova broke the school record for threes in a single game with nine and at that point you could tell the season was going to have a lot of highlights and records broken.

As a team, Winthrop broke several game and season records along the way. The Eagles captured a school record 12 conference victories, despite an 0-2 start and became just the second team in school history to earn the #3 seed at the conference tournament. Winthrop experienced its first ever five-game win streak against Big South schools. The team had a four-game and five-game win streak in league games, which is the first time a Winthrop team won four league games in a row twice in the same season. The Eagles also tied the school record for road wins (8), conference road wins (5) and home wins at the NCAA Division I level (10).  

Stollings brought an exciting offensive flair to the Eagles and the players responded. Winthrop set a school record at the D1 level for most 80-point games in a single-season with nine. The team also ended up with the highest scoring average by a Winthrop squad since the moved to the NCAA Division I level at 69.6. That's 26 seasons at the D1 level. The team destroyed the single-season record for threes by draining 236, which are the fourth most by any conference school in history. The previous Winthrop record was 165 set in 2006-07.

One of the most impressive record-breaking games came on Monday, Jan. 16, 2012 when the Eagles hosted Gardner-Webb looking for a third straight victory. Winthrop came out from the get go and ended up with a 20-point halftime lead that turned into a 38-point victory, which is the largest margin of victory ever by a Winthrop team over a Big South opponent. In the game, Choibekova broke her own school record for threes in a game by knocking down 10. The 10 threes also tied the Big South single-game mark and fell short by two of the NCAA record. As a team, Winthrop set a school record for threes in a game with 17 and that fell one shy of tying the conference record. It was also Winthrop's first ever win against Gardner-Webb since it become a member of the Big South.

The 18 victories were the most by any first-year head coach in school history as well as the second most by a Winthrop team at the NCAA Division I level. Stollings and her staff achieved several other firsts such as defeating Radford and Liberty in the same season as well as defeating those same schools in their first season as head coach. In addition to that, Stollings led the team to its first ever victory over Campbell as a conference member. The Eagles were previously 0-16 against the Camels in Big South matchups. Winthrop also went on to sweep Campbell and win in Buies Creek, NC for the first time ever in league play.
Conference play was highlighted by the team's victory over Liberty on Feb. 18 at the Winthrop Coliseum as it marked just the second victory against the Lady Flames since the 1996-97 season. Winthrop had lost to Liberty a few weeks earlier by double-figures and Choibekova hit seven threes on her way to a game-high 25 points while freshman Samiya Wright added a career-high 21 points. The victory was the third in a row for Winthrop at the time, which eventually ran the win streak to five games.

“The Liberty win was monumental for our program,” added Stollings. “They are the benchmark for success in this league and to beat them in our first year was an amazing feat. The Big South is extremely competitive from top to bottom and you have to bring you're “A” game every night to compete for the championship.”

Winthrop finished with a school record four sweeps in conference play (Gardner-Webb, Campbell, Radford and UNC Asheville). It was the first time Winthrop had ever swept the regular season series against Gardner-Webb, Campbell and Radford as the team posted just its third ever winning record in league play.

The season featured several outstanding individual game performances, but it was the single-season records that highlighted the season.
Dequesha McClanahan became the first player in school history to reach 1,000 career points prior to their junior season. It was just the second player in Big South Conference history to ever achieve 1,000 points in a player's freshman and sophomore years combined. McClanahan also picked up the first ever Big South Player of the Year award by a Winthrop player as she led the league in scoring and assists. Her 653 points in a single-season were a school record as she broke Kim Segars, Winthrop's all-time leading scorer, mark of 603. Her scoring average of 21.1 is a school single-season record and is 0.1 shy of the Big South Top 10 single-season best scoring average. In addition to her scoring, McClanahan was dishing out assists at a record pace all season long. She finished the season with six games of double-figure assists, including a school-record D1 tying performance of 15 against Campbell at home on Jan. 30.  McClanahan finished the season with 224, which broke the Winthrop and Big South single-season record set by Stephanie Howard of Radford in 1988-89. She is also just the second player all-time in league history to lead the conference in scoring and assists.

McClanahan posted four games of 30-points or more this season and tied the Winthrop mark for career 30-point games. She also became the first Winthrop player to record 30-points or more in back-to-back games and back-to-back league games. She also set the school's D1 record for consecutive games with 20 or more points (6) en route to a school record 19 games with 20 or more points. McClanahan now has 1,039 points and ranks 15^th all-time in scoring at Winthrop as she looks to become the school's first ever 2,000-point scorer.

Choibekova, an All-Big South Second Team selection, knocked down nine threes in just her third game as an Eagle and tore it up long range all season. The junior guard drained a Winthrop and Big South record 121 threes and currently leads the nation in threes per game at 3.9. If that holds, she will be the first ever Winthrop player to lead the nation in any category. Not only did Choibekova score, but she crashed the boards a lot and finished tied for the team lead in rebounds per game at 6.5 She is the first ever true guard in school history to lead the team in rebounding. She also became just the fourth player in school history to score over 450 points in a single-season.

Wright inked her name into the record books as she broke the record for threes in a season by a freshman with 64. Wright also logged more minutes in a single-season than other player in school history (1,116). Her 13.2 scoring average ranked fourth all-time by a freshmen and she tied a freshmen record for games played with 31.

In a season full of records ranging from points to victories, things look very bright for seasons to come under Stollings. Winthrop finished the season winning 12 of its final 17 games.

“With at least 80% of our scoring returning, coupled with the addition of a very talented recruiting class, we look to next season with tremendous excitement,” stated Stollings. “Our incoming class is without question extremely talented and they will make an immediate impact on our program, the university and our community.”

Next year's team will feature three double-figure scorers, two all-conference players, and a player of the year mixed with newcomers.

To see all the firsts and records from 2011-12, Click Here.