Box Score Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC— The Winthrop women's basketball team fell 69-52 to Virginia Commonwealth, Sunday afternoon in non-conference action.

Winthrop suffers its third loss in a row and is now 2-4 on the year while VCU improves to 2-3 on the year.

Winthrop pulled within nine points with 11:36 remaining in the game when VCU used a 7-0 run for a 16-point advantage. A jumper by Dequesha McClanahan ended the run, but that was the last shot the Lady Eagles got to fall over the next five and a half minutes and the Rams took full advantage. During the scoring lull, the Rams outscored Winthrop 12-0.

“I thought that their physicality and their length really caught up to us fast,” said Winthrop head coach Marlene Stollings. “I think it continued to hinder us throughout the game. They were taller virtually in every position, longer and stronger. They got up into our space defensively and they pushed us out away from using screens effectively. Bottom line I just felt they used their strength to control us, rather than us control them.”

VCU opened up an 18-point advantage just under five minutes into the second half and Winthrop responded with a 7-0 run to crawl back within 11 over the next two minutes. The run started with a fast break basket from Tiffany Charles followed by a runner just outside the lane by Samiya Wright. Winthrop's defense held VCU to a missed shot and started off in transition as Charles pushed the ball up the court and kicked it out to McClanahan on the win for a three-pointer.

The Rams answered right back with back-to-back baskets for a 15-point lead before Winthrop responded with a 6-0 run started by a nice finish in the lane by McClanahan and then Charles stole the inbound and finished an easy two, cutting the lead to 48-37 with 12:08 remaining. Katie Fitzgerald knocked the ball away to force a turnover on the other end, starting a fast break for the Eagles. After McClanahan drove the lane and missed, Fitzgerald was there to clean it up to cut the lead to single digits.

“There is a lot of talent on that team,” noted Stollings. “They're picked second in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) this year and it's very, very good women's basketball conference. I would have felt better if we had given them our best effort defensively. I didn't feel like we played with high energy and high effort…probably the first time all year.”

Winthrop jumped out to an early 4-0 lead behind a nice finish underneath by Taylor Calvert followed by a Charles steal and lay-in on the other end. Winthrop led 7-2 after McClanahan found Mary Hathaway wide open on the wing and she buried the three.

VCU fought its way back, using an 11-0 run to take a 13-7 lead behind nine points from Andrea Barbour. Winthrop fought back to 13-13 with 11:47 remaining in the first half after McClanahan knocked down two free throws. She scored six straight points to cap the 6-0 run by the Lady Eagles.

After Wright connected on a three-pointer to cut the lead to 17-16 in favor of VCU, the Lady Eagles hit a small scoring drought for the next 3:34. That allowed the Rams to build a 22-16 lead. Winthrop made it 22-21 after Diana Choibekova hit her first three of the half, but the Lady Eagles went cold for the next five minutes before Wright hit a jumper in transition with 26 seconds left in the half.

The Choibekova three was answered with a three-point play by Robyn Parks. Winthrop's Charles blocked the initial jumper by Christina Carter, but the ball fell right into the hands of Parks who quickly finished and was fouled in the process. She connected on the free throw for a 25-22 lead, which ignited a 14-2 run to end the half.

Winthrop shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half while the Rams connected on 44 percent from the field.

VCU consistently pounded the ball inside and took advantage of the height advantage as it outscored the Lady Eagles 42-22 in the paint.

Both teams pounded the boards all game long with VCU gaining a slight advantage at 47-41, but both teams had at least 20 boards on the offensive end.
VCU was led by Courtney Hurt's 28 points and 16 rebounds while Barbour finished with 17 points and Parks added 15.

Defensively the Rams held Winthrop's leading scorer, Choibekova, to six points. However, Choibekova battled on the boards and pulled down a career-high 11. McClanahan led Winthrop in scoring with 20 points and was the only player in double-figures. Wright added seven points and two steals.

With McClanahan's last basket, she surpassed 500 points in her career and now has 501.

Winthrop will hit the road for its next contest as it heads up I-77 to Davidson, NC to take on the Davidson Wildcats, Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.