Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC--Freshman Schaquilla Nunn and Aliyah Kilpatrick combined to score 35 points and grab 25 rebounds to lead Winthrop to a 78-61 home victory over High Point in a battle that featured two of the top teams and top post players in the Big South Conference opener Tuesday night at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Nunn went toe to toe with High Point's 6-4 center Cheyenne Parker and finished the game with 16 points and 16 rebounds to claim her fourth double-double of the season.  The 6-3 freshman also blocked three shots.  Kilpatrick, a 5-8 guard, scored a season-high 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds and sparked the defense with four steals.

The win was the third straight for the Eagles and improve their season record to 6-4 and 1-0 in conference action while High Point drops to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Dequesha McClanahan and Samiya Wright also reached double figures for the Eagles with 19 and 16 points, respectively.  McClanahan, the conference assist leader, finished with six dishes. 

Parker, who ranks second in the nation in rebounding and blocked shots, had another double-double performance for the Panthers as she finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds to go along with five blocks.  Kendra Wallace was the only other double figure scorer for HPU with 16.

Kilpatrick said the late first half run and the early takeover in the second half and late in the game came from conditioning. "Coach Gregg (Adamson) does a terrific job with our conditioning and training and I just felt that we were the better conditioned team toward the end," she said.  Nunn's performance was a bit surprising, according to Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook because of an injury she had been battling. "We didn't know until about 16 hours ago if Schaquilla was going to play.  She has an extremely bad groin pull, and I was just hoping to get nine minutes out of her each half, but 37 minutes later here we sit.  She had a gritty, tough performance," said Cook.

Winthrop and High Point battled on nearly even terms for the first 15 minutes of the game before the Eagles went on a 11-0 run over a two minute, 17 second stretch to take a 36-25 lead.  Wright started the run with a 3-pointer and Kilpatrick finished it off with two free throws and a lay-up.  High Point cut the deficit to six at halftime, 38-32, as Jazmin Cromartie scored in the lane in the final second.

Winthrop came out in the second half and took control of the game in the opening five minutes of the second half as it expanded the lead to 14 at 48-34.  Nunn started and ended the 12-2 run with a bucket inside off an offensive rebound in the opening 11 seconds of the period and a short jumper with 15:35 on the clock.  McClanahan scored five points during that stretch.

High Point cut the Winthrop lead to nine points with 12:11 remaining in the game when Parker scored inside to make the score 52-43.  Winthrop then took the air out of the Panthers with a 9-3 run to push the advantage to 15 at 61-46 at the under eight timeout after Diana Choibekova connected on a baseline jumper for her first points of the game.  She entered the game as Winthrop's leading scorer on the season at 16.6 points a game and finish with six.  It was the first time this season that she was held in single digits.

High Point cut the lead back to nine at 63-54 on a jumper in the lane by Tayler Tremblay with 4:30 on the clock, but the Eagles responded by outscoring the Panthers 15-7 down the stretch with five different players accounting for those 15 points.

With Nunn leading the way, Winthrop outscored High Point in the paint 32-22 and won the battle of the boards over the taller Panthers, 48-44.  The Eagles also outshot HPU from the floor.  Winthrop finished the game connecting on 40.3 percent of its field goals (27-67) while High Point shot 31.5 percent (23-73).

Winthrop will not play again until Dec. 29 when it faces preseason Big South favorite Liberty at home.  Tip off for that game is set for 1 p.m. 
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