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ROCK HILL, SC—Three players scored in double-figures to lead Winthrop to a 67-59 victory over South Carolina State, Saturday evening in non-conference women's basketball action.
The win ended a four-game skid as the Lady Eagles improve to 3-5 on the year while South Carolina State drops to 3-5.
Winthrop led by 14 points at half time, but the Bulldogs battled their way back to tie the game at 59-59 with 4:29 remaining in the game after Tiara Knotts drilled a three. Winthrop answered immediately on the following possession as Samiya Wright took a couple of dribbles to the left off a screen and drained a three, her fourth of the game.
The defense held the next two possessions and with 2:41 left, Dequesha McClanahan made it a five-point advantage after she turned the corner on a screen and got all the way to the basket for a short jumper in the lane.
The Knotts triple that tied the game was the last basket the Bulldogs would get as Winthrop's defense held strong and earned the eight-point win.
“We spent the last seven days really focusing in on some areas of improvement, one of the main areas was defense,” said Stollings. “We had a goal for the game of holding them below 55. A little bit short of that, but right there, very close to it. We wanted to generate offense off of our defense. In the first half, in particular, I feel like we did. We forced them into an entirely different style in the second half. They were literally walking the ball down the floor to try and slow it up and slow us down because our high octane offense was really bothering them in the first half.”
Midway through the first half, Winthrop led by a point, 13-12 after Knotts hit a three. Then Wright answered right back with a three-pointer and started a 9-0 run that pushed the lead to double-figures for the first time in the game.
Lauren Johnson, who had just checked into the game a minute earlier, ended the run with a three-pointer. Diana Choibekova made it a 10-point lead again on the next possession as she scored on an offensive put back and was fouled, making the free throw to complete the three-point play.
Winthrop pushed the lead to 14 points with 4:05 remaining in the first half after McClanahan found Choibekova for three. South Carolina State used an 11-3 run to cut the lead to six points with 2:08 left in the half after Christiana Perkins knocked down one from behind the arc, but the Lady Eagles answered with an 8-0 run to finish the half and lead 46-32 at the break.
After shooting 53 percent from the floor in the first half, Winthrop started off slow offensively in the second and that allowed South Carolina State to work its way back into the game. Over the first 7:17 of the half, the Lady Eagles had just three points. However, defensively the Lady Eagles held strong and the offense came through enough in the end.
With 10:34 left, Winthrop led by seven points after McClanahan knocked down a jumper. The Bulldogs' Tracey Flowers scored inside on the following possession and a few possessions later it was a three-point game after Trinese Fox hit a jumper. Taylor Calvert's lay-up off a nice feed from McClanahan pushed the lead back to five points only to see South Carolina State knock it back down to three after a Tiana Hemphill jumper. After both teams failed to score over the next three minutes, Fox knocked down a jumper in the lane to make it a one-point game. Two free throws on the other end by McClanahan put Winthrop ahead 59-56 until Knotts hit the three that tied the game for the first time since the 16:15 mark of the first half.
“What I was really proud of was when the score got tight there and tied, we didn't show our cards,” said Stollings. “We didn't panic. That's growth for our team. That's something we really focused on this week in practice. If something negative happens, let's turn it into a couple of positives.”
Wright led all scorers with a career-high 18 points, which is the second straight game she's set a career-high. Wright was 7-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from behind the arc. McClanahan finished with 15 points, six rebounds, nine assists and four steals while Choibekova chipped in with 14.
Knotts was the only double-figure scorer for the Bulldogs as she had 13 to go along with five assists. Fox and Paris Alston each added nine points while Perkins had eight.
Winthrop will hit the road for two games, starting Wednesday, Dec. 14 when it faces Monmouth University at 7 p.m. followed by a contest at Fordham on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m.