Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop trailed by 19 points with just under four minutes remaining in the game and cut the lead to four points but ran out of time as UNC Asheville held on for a 66-61 victory in the Lady Eagles final regular season home game, Monday evening at the Winthrop Coliseum.
Winthrop falls to 12-15 overall on the year and is now 5-9 in the Big South. Asheville snaps a five-game losing streak against the Lady Eagles and improves to 12-15 overall, 5-9 in the league.
The Lady Eagles looked to be done with 3:51 remaining in the game after Kelli Riles hit two free throws.
There was no quit in the Lady Eagles as they continued to battle and cut the lead to 13 points after Dequesha McClanahan with 2:41 left. Then Tiffany Charles forced a turnover and found McClanahan open for an easy lay-up with 2:28 left to cut the lead to 11 points. The lead was cut to single digits with 1:52 remaining after two free throws by Charles and then a steal by McClanahan turned into two points by Hammick off a miss and the lead was down to seven points with just over a minute and a half left. The lead was 11 points with one minute to go after two Breaira Barksdale free throws, but a McClanahan jumper cut the lead to 64-55 with 56 seconds left. After Kendall Shepard missed the front end of a one-in-one, Lacey Lyons buried a three with 31 seconds as Winthrop trailed by six points. Asheville's Lindsey Montgomery made one of two free throws for a seven point lead. Winthrop came down and had a look at three by Lyons, but it didn't fall. Abra Sickles missed two free throws and McClanahan came down to bury a three with 11 seconds left to make it a 65-61 Bulldog advantage. That was where the rally ended for Winthrop. After Asheville shot well to hold a double-figure halftime lead, Winthrop clamped down defensively in the second half and held the Bulldogs to 31 percent. However, Winthrop couldn't get things going offensively as it struggled shooting the ball the entire game as it finished at 32 percent (7-for-13 in the final four minutes).
A free throw by Hammick cut the lead to 14 points with 12:43 left in the game, but the lead quickly went back to 19 points after a three-pointer and a fast break lay-up by Lindsey Thompson.
The Lady Eagles battled over the next six minutes and got the lead back down to 13 after Lyons connected on a three from the wing. Asheville answered with a three-point play from Chioma Okoli with 4:49 for a 17-point advantage.
Asheville used an 8-0 run to open up an early 12-4 lead with 11:27 left after a Montgomery jumper. This after Asheville committed turnovers on five of its first seven possessions. The lead grew to 11 points with 9:03 remaining after a fast break lay-in by Barksdale.
Winthrop cut the lead down to seven points at 17-10 after a jumper by McClanahan in transition and a Hammick basket in the lane. The Bulldogs responded with a 14-3 run, 10 straight points, which put them in front by 18 points after a Thompson three. Winthrop was able to trim the lead down to 11 points with around a minute and a half to go after a Lyons jumper, but Asheville scored with nine seconds to go in the half for a 34-21 advantage at the break.
Winthrop shot just 29 percent for the half, and was 0-for-7 from three. Asheville didn't get off to a good start with the early turnovers, but finished the half shooting 11-for-22 and 4-for-8 from behind the arc. The Lady Eagles couldn't capitalize off the 13 turnovers by the Bulldogs in the first half and managed just six points off turnovers.
Montgomery led Asheville with 15 points and 11 rebounds off the bench to go along with three steals. Shepard had 14 points and seven assists. Thompson finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and is now nine points shy of 1,000 in her career.
McClanahan led all scorers with 20 points, despite going 6-for-20 from the field. She also had six assists and three steals. Lyons finished with 14 points while Hammick added 12 points and 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. It was also the fourth time in the last five games Hammick has pulled down double-figure rebounds. Kaitlyn Rubino had a solid game off the bench with nine points and eight rebounds to go along with a career-high four blocks.
Winthrop will finish up the regular season on the road beginning with a match-up at Gardner-Webb on Friday, Mar. 4 at 7 p.m. Asheville heads to Lynchburg, VA on Friday to take on Liberty at 7 p.m.
