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ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop women's basketball team looks for three wins in a row as it hosts league-leading Liberty on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m.

Winthrop, 13-11 overall, is currently sitting at 7-5 in the Big South Conference and in fourth place by a half game over Charleston Southern. Liberty leads the league with a 12-1 mark and is 17-7 overall with a two-game cushion in the standings over High Point.

The Lady Eagles are fighting to stay in the top four in the standings and a victory over Liberty Saturday could put them in good position. Radford sits in third at 8-5 and Charleston Southern is fifth with a 7-6 mark followed by Campbell at 6-6 and Presbyterian College at 5-7 so a loss could bring the Lady Eagles back into a log jam in the middle of the standings.

Winthrop is riding a two-game winning streak after back-to-back road wins at Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville as it completed the regular season sweeps of those two opponents. Over the last two games, Winthrop is 7-3 and has averaged nearly 70 points per game in that stretch (69.5).

Dequesha McClanahan has continued to lead the Lady Eagles as she had her sixth straight 20-plus game on Monday night at UNC Asheville as she finished with a game-high 28 points. It is also the 14^th time she's hit 20 or more points in a game, which leads the Big South.

McClanahan leads the league in scoring at 20.5 points per game and 7.3 assists per game. She is trying to become just the second player in school history to average 20 or more points in a season and the first player in the Big South since 2006-07. Coastal Carolina's Alisha Dill averaged a league-best 22.5 and was the only player in the 20s. The sophomore guard is also searching to become the school's first ever player to reach 1,000 career points before her junior season as she currently has 877. She's also looking to set a school record for assists in a single season as she has 176 and is just 17 away from breaking Janet Frederick's 31-year-old record of 192.

The watch is still on for junior Diana Choibekova as she looks to become the single-season record holder in the Big South in three-pointers made. Choibekova currently has 95 and needs 13 more to break the mark of 107, held by Charleston Southern's Katie Tull (2010-11).
Choibekova is second on the team in scoring at 15.8 per game and still leads the team in rebounding at 6.1 per game. No true guard has ever led at Winthrop team in rebounding.

Speaking of rebounding, freshman Taylor Calvert inked her name into the record books at Winthrop as she set the freshman record for rebounds in a game with 19. That number fell one shy of tying the school record of 20 set by Sarah Dukes on Feb. 7, 1980 vs. Longwood. Since being inserted into the starting line-up, Winthrop is 7-3 and Calvert has averaged 5.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals while shooting 58 percent from the floor.

Freshman Samiya Wright broke out of her scoring slump as she tied her career-high of 18 points Monday at UNC Asheville. Wright had failed to reach double-figures in the previous two games and five of the previous six. Wright also connected on multiple threes for the second time in seven games.

Capturing a win at home on Saturday will not come easy as Winthrop faces a Liberty team that leads the nation in rebounding, something the Lady Eagles have done well lately (averaging 22.3 offensive boards in the last six games). Liberty leads the country in rebounding margin at an impressive +15.6 mark.

The Flames are led by potential Big South Player of the Year candidates in junior Devon Brown and senior Avery Warley. Brown is averaging a team-best 17.1 points in 24 games while shooting 44 percent from the field and 77 percent from the foul line (105-for-136). Her free throw attempts are the third most by any player in the Big South. Warley is a double-double almost every night as she's averaging 12.9 points and 11.3 rebounds. She also has a team-high 41 blocks, which is second in the league. Warley is efficient from the field at 56 percent.

Liberty has been getting wins with strong efforts on both ends of the court. The offense averages 70.2 points per game while defensively they are giving up only 56.4. points. Defensively the Flames rank second in the league in points allowed and are first in defensive field goal percentage.

Winners of 11 straight, Liberty has held opponents under 60 points in seven of the 11 games. Liberty is a perfect 7-0 on the road in league play and averaging 74.9 points while allowing just 56.3 points per game. The last three games are the only ones during the win streak that have been decided by 10 points or less.

Reagan Miller is third on the team in scoring at 9.0 points per game and is coming off a career-high 23 points in a double-overtime victory over Charleston Southern.

Liberty owns a 42-7 all-time record against Winthrop and has won the last eight meetings and 33 of the last 34 meetings. Winthrop's last win over Liberty came at the Winthrop Coliseum in 2008, 56-52.