Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop opened the second half by hitting just two of its first 14 shots allowing Coastal Carolina to open up a double-digit lead and never recovered in a 48-29 loss at the Winthrop Coliseum, Monday evening.
Winthrop trailed by four points at the break despite shooting just 23 percent in the second half, but couldn't find its offensive touch in the second half as Coastal Carolina opened up a 16 points lead at the 10:41 mark of the second half and cruised to its first conference victory.
The win improves Coastal Carolina to 7-13 overall and 1-7 in the Big South while Winthrop falls to 9-11 overall and 3-5 in the conference.
Dequesha McClanahan scored on a lay-up with four second left to make the score 20-16 at the half after Winthrop trailed by 10 points with just under nine minutes remaining.
Coastal Carolina opened up the second half hitting three of its first four shots, which included a three-pointer by Jessica Noll to make it a quick 11 point lead. McClanahan answered with a jumper in the lane to cut the lead back down to single digits. Olivia Irick's jumper put the Chanticleers back up by 11, but a steal by Kaitlyn Rubino at midcourt turned into two easy points as she laid the ball in to cut the lead back down to nine points, 29-20. After a defensive stand, Winthrop missed a couple of opportunities on the other end and Moss came back for Coastal with a three for a 12-point advantage. It was the closest the Lady Eagles were for the remainder of the game.
Winthrop scored the first basket of the game on a short jumper by TaQuoia Hammick off a nice entry pass from Lacey Lyons. Coastal then reeled off seven straight points behind a couple of jumpers by Moss and Katie White and capped off with a triple from Noll. Rubino cut it to 7-4 after a lay-up, but four consecutive points by Coastal made it 10-4. The lead grew to 10 points as the Lady Eagles struggled shooting from the field. After Rubino's lay-in, Winthrop missed its next 13 shots until McClanahan hit a jumper at the elbow, which fortunately made it a 14-8 game as the Lady Eagles defense held strong.
Both team struggled shooting in the first half as Winthrop shot just 23 percent (0-for-8 from behind the arc) and Coastal Carolina shot 32 percent. Winthrop struggled even more from the floor in the second half, shooting just 17 percent and 1-for-8 from behind the arc. Winthrop ended up with 13 more shots than Coastal, but only turned 13 offensive rebounds into four points.
The top three scorers for the Lady Eagles struggled shooting the ball for the second consecutive game as McClanahan finished 3-for-18 and had nine points. Rubino was 2-for-7 and Lyons was 1-for-7. The trio came into the Coastal game averaging a combined 27 points per game. However, they have combined for a total of just 17 points in the last two games and are shooting 6-for-40 (15 percent). Hammick finished the game with six points and eight rebounds while Mary Hathaway had four points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Moss led Coastal Carolina with 18 points and a career-best 15 rebounds to go along with three assists and six steals. Irick finished with 10 points and five assists.
Winthrop will step away from conference play as it faces Longwood on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. Coastal Carolina will return to Conway, SC to take on Presbyterian College on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m.
