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ASHEVILLE, NC— Dequesha McClanahan scored 28 points and Taylor Calvert recorded her first career double-double to lead Winthrop to a 79-68 victory over UNC Asheville, Monday evening at Kimmel Arena in Big South Conference women's basketball action.

McClanahan hit the 20-point mark for the sixth straight game and the 14^th time on the season while Calvert chipped in with a career-high 13 points and pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds, which is one shy of tying the school record.

Winthrop was able to hold on to defeat the Bulldogs and sweep the season series, despite a team record 14 three-pointers by Asheville. The Bulldogs hit 10 in the first half, just one shy of tying the team record of most threes in a game.

The Lady Eagles match the win total for the 2010-11 season as they are now 13-11 overall and 7-5 in the Big South. The seven conference victories match the second most for a season in school history. The record is nine, set by the 2008-09 team. UNC Asheville falls to 7-17 overall and 3-10 in the Big South. The win is also the seventh on the road this season for Winthrop, which ties the mark for second most in school history.

Withstanding 10 threes from UNC Asheville in the first half and holding a one-point advantage at the break, the Lady Eagles opened the second half trading baskets before using an 8-0 run to open up a nine-point lead with 13:49. It was a put back from Katie Fitzgerald that pushed the lead to 53-44.

Prior to the Lady Eagles opening the game a little, there had been 15 lead changes and the score was tied five times.  

The Lady Eagles hit the offensive glass all night and finished with a season-high 29 offensive rebounds that led to 29 second chance points. That made up for the team's 39 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent behind the arc.

After the 8-0 run that put Winthrop ahead by nine points, Asheville's Gentry Manley knocked down two free throws to make it a seven-point game again with 13:31 left. Then Winthrop used a 14-3 run to go up by 18 points with 9:24 remaining after a McClanahan jumper.

Back-to-back threes by Lindsey Thompson started a run for Asheville that cut the lead to eight points with 6:57 to play, but Winthrop held strong for the win.

Both teams came out trading baskets until Winthrop found itself up 12-8 at the 16:06 mark after two free throws by McClanahan. Over the next 5-6 minutes, Winthrop held the lead as it bounced back-and-forth between one and three points until Shonese Jones hit her fifth three of the game for a 22-19 Bulldog lead with just under 11 minutes remaining. McClanahan answered right back with a three to tie the game at 22-22 with nine and a half to play.

UNC Asheville scored six of its first eight points behind the arc and didn't cool off for the entire first half. The Bulldogs finished the first half 10-for-18 behind the arc as Jones had five of them and Grace Blaylock had three.

Winthrop held a 39-38 lead at the break, despite shooting just 39 percent from the floor as it crashed the offensive glass and managed 13 second chance points. UNC Asheville shot 48 percent from the floor and 56 percent from three in the first half.

Samiya Wright her best performance in three games as she tied her career-best of 18 points and also dished out four assists. In addition to her 28 points, McClanahan dished out five assists and had three steals.

Jones led Asheville with 22 points as she hit a career-best six threes while Thompson added 20 points as she surpassed the 1,000 career plateau.

Winthrop will return home for its next two contests as it will host league-leading Liberty on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. Asheville hits the road for a single game next weekend with a 5 p.m. matchup at Gardner-Webb Saturday evening.