Feb. 17, 2001

    ROCK HILL, SC – Meredith Smith made her last Homecoming game a memorable one as she scored a career-high 20 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to lead Winthrop women's basketball team to a 61-54 victory over Charleston Southern, Saturday afternoon.

    The Lady Eagles (8-17, 4-8) trailed 33-32 at halftime and took the early lead in the second half on a three-pointer by Kimberly Cairnes, Winthrop's only three of the game. Winthrop trailed only one more time and that was with 5:22 remaining in the game. Then a Smith lay-up tied the game and the next trip down she made one-of-two from the line to give the Lady Eagles the lead for good.

    Winthrop never really got it going from the floor as it managed to shoot 31 percent the entire game. However, the Lady Eagles (ranked second in the league in free throw shooting as a team) hit 24-of-30 from the line. Charleston Southern (13-12, 7-5) shot only 33 percent from the floor, but went to the line only 11 times. Winthrop also forced 19 turnovers, compared to its 12. 

    Charlotta Wennefors struggled from the floor (3-of-15), but scored 14 points. Cairnes and Ishirel Hilliard each had nine points. For Charleston Southern Marta Losonczy came off the bench for 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting (4-for-8 from beyond the arc). Staci Mueller added 12 points. Erin Jedlikowski, who burned Winthrop for 23 points in the first meeting at Charleston Southern, was only 1-for-4 for two points.

    Charleston Southern came into the game tied for second place in the conference with Elon. The win could have pushed the Lady Eagles into place tie with Radford, but Elon failed to defeat the Highlanders and so the Lady Eagles remain in seventh. 

    Winthrop will play its last home of the season on Wednesday when its hosts Coastal Carolina.