ROCK HILL, SC-- Winthrop women's basketball looks for two wins in a row as it remains on the road and takes on High Point at 7 p.m. Monday night.
Winthrop was the only road team to win on Saturday as it rallied from 15-points down to defeat Asheville, 71-64 behind 26 points from freshman Dequesha McClanahan.
The Lady Eagles have won seven of their last nine games and are 3-2 in the Big South so far with a chance to remain in the upper half of the standings if they can win another road game tonight. Winthrop faces a High Point team that is 2-3 in the league and coming off a convincing 80-66 home victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday. McClanahan continues to shine for
Winthrop as she scored 26 points for the second time this season. Winthrop doesn't always need 26 points from McClanahan, but when she scores 10 or more points in a game the team is tough to beat. In those games Winthrop is 8-2 and is scoring 62.5 points per game while allowing 54.3. When McClanahan scores in double-figures she averages 19.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists
and 3.0 steals. She's shooting 47 percent from the field, 44 percent from behind the arc and 74 percent from the foul line in those games. Winthrop's last five games have been against Big South competition. The Lady Eagles are averaging 58.6 points while allowing 54.4 points in league play. Defensively the Lady Eagles are holding teams to 32 percent shooting and 27 percent from behind the arc in conference games only. Not only has McClanahan improved her numbers in league play at 16.2 points and 4.2 assists, but junior Kaitlyn Rubino has also stepped up. Rubino is averaging 11.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in five league games.
She is shooting 49 percent from the floor and 70 percent from the foul line. In four away games this season, Rubino is averaging 10.3 points and shooting 60 percent from the floor and 86 percent from the foul line. Once again Winthrop hit its magic number for wins on Saturday. Under
head coach Bud Childers, the Lady Eagles are 52-14 all-time when scoring 60 points. Despite allowing a season-high 43 points in the first half to Asheville on Saturday, Winthrop clamped down and held the Bulldogs to just 21 second half points and 23 percent shooting. Asheville was 3-for-13 and committed five turnovers in the last 10 minutes of the game. Opponents are shooting 34 percent from the floor after the Asheville game, but Winthrop is still ranked among the nation's best defensively. The Lady Eagles entered Saturday's game ranked 33rd in scoring defense 55.2), 31st in three-point field goal defense (27 percent) and an impressive 14th in field goal percentage defense (34.3). Winthrop faces a High Point team that has a very balanced scoring attack and is one of the most veteran teams in the league. Junior Shamia Brown leads the team with 11.8 points per game and is the only Panther player averaging double-figures. However, there are a total of six players averaging 7.5 points or more per game. Senior Jurica Hargraves averages 9.8 points and is one of the top threats from behind the arc in the league as she's 38-for-90 (42 percent) on the year. On Saturday she passed the 200 career mark for made threes.
High Point is ranked 165th nationally in scoring defense, but the Panthers are extremely good at shot blocking (ranked 9th nationally at six per game). The Panthers are 4-3 at home this season with home losses to three talented teams in VCU (at the last second), Liberty and Gardner-Webb.
High Point has averaged 71 points while allowing 55.4.
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