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ROCK HILL, SC—Riding a two-game winning streak, the women's basketball team  looks to keep momentum as it travels to the Bronx, NY to take on Fordham, Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Winthrop is now 4-5 on the year and is coming off a blowout victory over Monmouth on Wednesday, 88-54. Dequesha McClanahan led four players in double-figures as she posted her fifth 20-point game of the season. McClanahan had four in 31 games last year as a freshman.
Head coach Marlene Stollings mentioned after the South Carolina State win on Dec. 10 that the team was focusing more on defense to become tougher and work harder to become better. On Wednesday at Monmouth the team showed up on both ends of the court as the defense held the Hawks to 25 percent shooting (17 percent in the first half). Offensively the team posted 88 points, which is the most against an NCAA Division I opponent since scoring 89 in an overtime win at High Point. The last time a Winthrop team scored 88 or more points against a division one opponent in regulation was 1996 at Radford in a 110-90 loss.
The Eagles had contributions from several players in the win over Monmouth as the bench chipped in with 31 points. Diana Choibekova came off the bench to score 15 points while TaQuoia Hammick added seven points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Samiya Wright continued her hot shooting going 5-for-9 from the field and scored 15 points. Wright was also 2-for-2 at the foul line and has now made 16 straight and also scored her 100^th point against Monmouth.
McClanahan continues to lead the team in scoring at 19.2 points while Choibekova is averaging 16.8 and Wright is now up to 12.0 ppg. McClanahan had eight assists against Monmouth and now has eight or more assists in five games this season. She is currently fourth nationally in assists per game and is nearing the 200 career as she currently has 174.
Wright has the hot hand this season as she's shooting 53 percent from the field and an astounding 62 percent from three (18-for-29). Choibekova's 4.1 three-point field goals per game is best in the country.
Over the last five games, Katie Fitzgerald has also been productive shooting the ball as she's knocked down 61 percent with a 5.8 ppg average.
The Eagles take on a Fordham team that is 6-4 on the year and coming off a 41-37 hard fought road victory at Stony Brook on Dec. 11. This will be just the fourth home game of the season.
The Rams also feature a sophomore guard with the ability to have big scoring nights as Abigail Corning leads the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game and led the team in points the first five games of the season as the team got off to a 3-1 start. Corning is a deep threat as 50 percent of her field goals are from behind the arc (47 percent, which ranks 16^th nationally).
Corning leads a trio of double-figure scorers as Becky Peters is averaging 10.9 while Arielle Collins averages 10.1 points. Like the Eagles, Fordham's top three scorers are guards and the majority of the scoring comes from the starters.
Nationally, the Rams are ranked an impressive eighth in scoring defense at 49.5 points per game while Winthrop features a higher octane offense at 68.5 points per game. Opponents are only shooting 37 percent and just 25 percent from behind the arc. In 10 games, teams are only going to the foul line an average of 8.7 times. Winthrop (8^th) and Fordham (4^th) are both ranked in the top 10 nationally in fewest fouls per game.
Winthrop, which has gone to the line 91 times in the past five games for a an average of 18.2, will have a tougher time achieving that number against the Rams.
So far this season, Fordham hasn't allowed an opponent to score more than 60 points but once (Rutgers-68). Winthrop has posted three games in the 80s and has been held below 60 points just once (VCU-52). The Eagles are averaging 75.5 points per game on the road while shooting 39 percent and going to the foul line 22 times per game.