ROCK HILL, SC-- Winthrop has won five straight and faces a Gardner-Webb team that is coming off a conference loss at Radford on Saturday.
The last time Winthrop won five games in a row was the 2008-09 season and the team looks for its sixth straigh win for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
Several players continue to step up for the Lady Eagles and have done so during this win streak.
Freshman Dequesha McClanahan as been impressive during the five-game stretch as she's averaged 17.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 44 percent from three. She's also 20-for-27 at the foul line (74 percent). She has now scored 17 or more points in five straight games.
Red-shirt junior Ashley Cox is also averaging in double-figures at 10.0 and is also pulling down 5.4 rebounds.
The shooting guard position is giving the Lady Eagles a solid amount of production as Mary Hathaway and Lacey Lyons have played well. Hathaway is averaging 9.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals during the win streak. She's also shooting 77 percent from the foul line (10-for-13). Lyons is averaging 9.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and is shooting 36 percent from behind the arc.
As a team, Winthrop is outscoring its opponents by almost 16 points per game in the win streak, but more importantly have held opponents to an average of just 50.4 points.
The team is shooting 45 percent from the field and holding a +5 advantage on the boards.
A win today would make the Lady Eagles 2-0 in the league for the first time since the 2007-08 season when the team won at High Point and defeated Charleston Southern at home.
The last time Gardner-Webb visited the Winthrop Coliseum, it dropped 85 points.
The Bulldogs feature a pair of guards that have enjoyed a lot of success in the conference since the school became a member in 2008. Monique Hudson and Dominique Hudson lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 13.6 and 12.4 respectively.
Monique Hudson cane score inside and outside as she shoots 42 percent from the floor, 37 percent from three (22-for-59) and 70 percent at the foul line.
Dominique Hudson is an aggressive guard that doesn't hit many threes, but leads the team with 80 free throw attempts. She is also tops on the team with 81 assists (1st in Big South/16th nationally) and second with 47 steals.
The Hudson sisters are ranked first and second in steals per game at 3.1 in the Big South, which ranks in the top 25 nationally.
As a team the Bulldogs lead the conference in margin of victory at +8.2 and feature the fourth best offense at 67.1 per game.
Gardner-Webb is also a team that takes care of the basketbal and has one of the best turnover margins in America at 5.07.
Red-shirt junior Sierra Little just started playing five games ago and has made an impactk,having averaged 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. She's shooting 46 percent from the floor and is averaging 2.0 steals. The 6-2 forward has made two starts and scored 17 on Saturday in the loss at Radford.
Freshman Jasmine Dale has come off the bench in all but one of the 15 games she's played and is second on the team in threes made with 21. She's 21-for-68 on the year (32 percent).
Gardner-Webb is 2-3 in the last five games but has won seven of its last 10 games and has won two of its last three road games.
Winthrop is still first in the league in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. The Bulldogs are one of the best shooting teams at 41 percent (3rd in the conference).