ROCK HILL, SC-- The women's basketball team will try and bounce back from its home loss to Presbyterian College as it heads to Asheville, NC for its first road conference game of the season.
The Lady Eagles are coming off their worst offensive performance in over a month after scoring just 40 points against PC and shooting 28 percent from the floor. Winthrop will face Asheville at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.
Despite the loss, Winthrop has still won six of its last eight games and will be on the road for the first time since it traveled to DeLand, FL just before Christmas for the Hatter Classic. The two games there were technically neutral site games and the Lady Eagles last real road game came on Dec. 5 in Blacksburg, VA against Virginia Tech. Winthrop lost the game, 53-48.
During the eight game stretch, Winthrop is averaging 59.6 points per game and allowing 50.9 while holding teams to just 31 percent shooting from the floor and 28 percent shooting from three.
Winthrop's turnovers per game are also down and the scoring is more balanced. McClanahan is still leading the team in scoring during that time frame at 15.6 ppg while the Lady Eagles have also gotten production from
Kaitlyn Rubino (9.0),
Lacey Lyons (8.8) and
Ashley Cox (8.4).
The team, which shot 29 percent from the floor in its first eight games, managed to improve that number to 41 percent in the last eight. The team also averaged on 46 points in the first eight games of the year.
Prior to its recent home stand, Winthrop had not played well at home and was much better on the road. ln its three road games the team is 1-2. One of the biggest differences for Winthrop on the road is the shooting of freshman guard
Dequesha McClanahan. The 5-9 guard is scoring 19.3 points while shooting 39 percent from the floor and 47 percent from behind the arc. She's also averaging 5.3 steals a game. That's compared to her average of 10.1 points at home and 27 percent shooting from the floor. She also is only shooting 12 percent from behind the arc at the Winthrop Coliseum.
When McClanahan scores 10 points or more, Winthrop is 7-2. As a team the offense generates 19.7 more points per game and shoots 41 percent from the floor compared to 27 percent when she's not involved in the scoring. Assists per game are at 12.2 when she scores double-figures and 7.3 when she doesn't.
Winthrop went 4-2 on its six-game home stand and an improved offense played a big key at 62.2 points per game. The defense held strong and allowed just 51.7 points per game. Winthrop's overall defense on the year is allowing 55.2 points per game, which is ranked 33rd nationally.
Asheville also enters the game with an 8-8 record, but is 1-4 in the league and looking to turn things around.
The Bulldogs are coming off an 85-74 road loss at Charleston Southern and have dropped four of their last five games. During that span the Bulldogs have been outscored by an average of 74.8 to 65.4.
On the year Asheville is scoring 70.5 points per game, which ranks in the Top 60 nationally and first in the Big South.
There are four players that score in double-figures, led by Kendall Shepard's 14.4 per game, which is second in the league. Lindsey Montgomery is second on the team with 13.5 points as she's come off the bench in all 10 games in which she's played. Lindsey Thompson is averaging 13.2 points while Kelli Riles is scoring 12.8 per game and pulling down 11.1 rebounds. The Bulldogs are 4-1 when Thompson leads the team in scoring and 6-2 when Thompson or Montgomery lead the team in scoring.
In their five league games, the Bulldogs have allowed a league worst 74.8 points and opponents to shoot 42 percent from the floor.
Asheville does lead the league in free throw attempts in conference games at 109 (only team over 100). The Bulldogs have hit 67 percent from the foul line so far. On the year, Asheville has attempted almost 100 more free throws than its opponents (340-252).
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