Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC—Lacey Lyons scored a season-high 24 points to pace four players in double-figures as Winthrop won its third straight with a 93-46 victory over Southern Wesleyan, Tuesday evening in non-conference women's basketball action.
The Lady Eagles (5-6) shot a season-high 55 percent from the floor and defeated a team by more than 40 points for the first time since the 2003 season. That year Winthrop defeated Southern Virginia 127-54 and it's also the first time since that game that a Winthrop team has scored 90 or more points.
Winthrop jumped out to an early 8-4 lead just shy of four minutes into the game and then scored 13 straight points for a 21-4 lead midway through the first half. The lead extended to 20 points after Lyons connected on one of her seven threes in the game with 7:05 left.
The second half wasn't much different than the first as the Lady Eagles began with defensive pressure and the lead was 32 points just three minutes and 13 seconds into the second half. The Warriors scored the first basket on a Janaye Gillard lay-up inside, but Mary Hathaway answered with a three-pointer. Dequesha McClanahan blocked a shot and got the rebound to start a fast break on the other end and Lyons drilled a three from the wing off a Hathaway feed for a 51-23 lead. Leading 58-26, Lyons scored five straight points as she made a jumper at the foul line and then hit another trey. Her seven three pointers were the most she's hit as a Lady Eagle and just one shy of her person record of eight, which she did Dec. 20, 2007 vs. Alabama State.
Winthrop continued to pour it on offensively and the lead became 40 points with 6:16 remaining after Kaitlyn Rubino scored two of her career-high 16 points. The lead of the game came with 1:13 left as Katie Fitzgerald boarded a miss and hit a 10-foot jumper for a 49 point lead.
In addition to Lyons and Rubino scoring in double-figures, McClanahan had 17 points for the third straight game and Hathaway finished with 12. Hathaway nearly recorded a triple-double as she set new career-highs with 11 rebounds and eight assists. Rubino finished the game 8-for-9 from the field and also had two steals.
Gillard finished with 11 points for Southern Wesleyan (7-3) and Shandrice Erby also had 11 points. The 46 points were the fewest scored by the Warriors this season with the previous low being 60 in a loss at Young Harris College.
Defensively Winthrop held Southern Wesleyan to 24 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers that led to 24 points for the Lady Eagles.
Winthrop will look for its fourth straight win on Thursday, Dec. 30 when it hosts Colorado State at 7 p.m.
