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ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop women's basketball team hosts North Carolina Central on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m. in its final non-conference home game of the season.

The Eagles are nearing the end of their entire non-conference schedule as they will head to Mercer following Christmas to complete their out-of-conference slate (total of 12 games). The Eagles are looking to finish with at least a .500 record in non-conference action. Winthrop finished with a winning record (7-6) in non-conference action last season for just the second time in school history.

Winthrop (4-6) looks to erase the memory of Saturday's loss at Fordham, in which it shot just 33 percent from the field in the game. The Eagles fell victim to a Rams team that tied a school record for three-pointers made with 13. It was the third time this season an opponent shot lights out from behind the arc and connected on 10 or more against Winthrop.

Dequesha McClanahan remains the team's top scorer at 18.5 points per game but is coming off one of her worst games shooting the ball as she was 5-for-21. She was not alone at Fordham as Samiya Wright struggled from the field, going 4-for-17 and 1-for-6 from behind the arc. Wright is now averaging 12 points per game while Diana Choibekova is second on the team at 16.4 points.

Through 10 games, Choibekova has knocked down 41 threes and leads the nation in threes made per game. Her 41 triples are more than halfway to the school record for threes in a single season. That record is 73, held by Tiffany Rodd. Rodd did that during the 2007-08 season. Choibekova needs to average just 1.6-1.8 threes made per game the rest of the season to break Rodd's record. She already set the single-game record for threes made with nine in the win over Niagara. The Big South record is 107 held by Katie Tull of Charleston Southern. Choibekova would have to average 3.4 the rest of the season to break that mark.
 
Winthrop hosts a North Carolina Central team that is 2-8 on the year and coming off a road loss to Clemson on Sunday. These two teams battled it out last season in Durham, NC as McClanahan's lay-up with four seconds left proved to be the game-winning shot in a 62-60 win.

NCCU shot just 39 percent in that game, but remained aggressive and got to the foul line 36 times (25-for-36) and forced Winthrop into 24 turnovers.

NCCU had three players in double-figures, but only Chasidy Williams returns. She had 15 points, eight rebounds and five steals. So far this season Williams is averaging a team-best 17.0 points per game and shooting 47 percent from the field. She's also leading the team in free throw attempts with 57. She is coming off a 17 points, 17 rebound performance at Clemson. 

Williams is the only player averaging in double-figures for NCCU, which averages 52.5 points per game as a team. Blaire Houston is second on the team with 7.9 points per game and is shooting 36 percent from the floor.

So far this season, NCCU is 0-2 against the Big South. NCCU, which has the same mascot as Winthrop, is 0-5 on the road this year.

This is a young series with Winthrop having won the first two meetings. The first meeting came in 2010 in Rock Hill, SC with the Eagles prevailing 57-39. Winthrop won its last home game and looks to even its record at the Winthrop Coliseum to 3-3 this season.