ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop's women's basketball team looks to get back in the win column this Sunday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Southern Polytechnic State at the Winthrop Coliseum.
The game marks the return of former Winthrop assistant coach Laquanda Dawkins, who brings in an NAIA squad that is 9-1 on the year and ranked in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll Top 25. Dawkins spent five seasons with Winthrop under head coach Bud Childers and left the program in June to become the new head coach at Southern Poly State.
The Lady Eagles are currently 2-5 on the year and coming off a 53-48 loss at Virginia Tech on Dec. 5. The team has gone through a different schedule this week having to juggle practice and exams.
Winthrop faces a Southern Poly State team that has won four straight games and is 9-1 on the season. During the four-game win streak the Lady Hornets are winning by an average of 28.8 points.
Freshman Dequesha McClanahan played just 22 minutes due to foul trouble but was 6-for-12 from the field and had a game-high 18 points. She scored in double-figures in back-to-back games for the first time this season and is averaging 16 points in the last two games. She was named the Big South Conference Freshman of the Week for her efforts against NCCU and Virginia Tech. After starting the season 10-for-57 (18 percent) from the field, McClanahan is 11-for-27 in the last two games (41 percent).
The Lady Hornets are led in scoring by senior forward Marisa Stotler at 20.2 points per game. The 6-1 forward shoots 55 percent from the floor and also averages 6.8 rebounds. Two other players average in double-figure scoring in Jasmine Smith (13.3) and Crystal Davis (10.3). Smith averages a double-double as she brings down 11.0 rebounds a game. She also shoots over 50 percent from the field and is second on the team with 23 steals.
Winthrop has won eight of the nine non-division I contests under head coach Bud Childers. Winthrop has won 15 of the last 16 meetings with a non-division I opponent. The last time Winthrop lost to more than one game in a single season to a non-division I opponent was in 1999 against Catawba College and Lander.
Junior TaQuoia Hammick is closing in on 250 career rebounds as she now has 243 in 57 games. Senior Lacey Lyons continues her chase for 200 career three-pointers made as she currently has 158, which ranks 12th all-time in Big South history. Lyons is also closing in on 800 career points (783). McClanahan has 21 steals in seven games and is the first Lady Eagle to get 20 or more steals in the first seven games since Tameika Brooks had 20 in the 2003-04 season.
The women's game will be followed by the men's team vs. Jacksonville at 3:30 p.m.
