Box Score Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC— The Winthrop women's basketball team used a 14-4 run with under eight minutes remaining to open up a commanding lead and earn its fourth straight victory, defeating Radford 67-56 Monday evening at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Dequesha McClanahan recorded her sixth career double-double with 21 points and 10 assists as she led Winthrop offensively. The victory gives Winthrop its fourth straight and the second four-game win streak in conference play this season. That ties a school record for consecutive league wins.

McClanahan broke the Winthrop single-season assists mark as she now has 195, passing the 30-year old record of 192 set by Janet Frederick. McClanahan is now just 12 assists shy of tying the Big South record. She also passed the 900 career point mark and now has 916.

Winthrop (15-11, 9-5 Big South) increased its halftime lead to double-figures five and a half minutes into the second half and held it until back-to-back buckets by Radford cut the lead to seven, 45-38, with 7:59 to play as the Highlanders picked up the pressure defensively.

Samiya Wright answered that with a three, ending a scoring drought by Winthrop that stretched a little over four minutes. Tiana Cannon, who had a steal and a basket to cut the lead to seven, scored inside to bring the deficit back to single digits before free throws by Wright on the other end pushed the lead back to double-figures for good.

“We know we're going to be in 40 minute games,” said Winthrop head coach Marlene Stollings. “It's that time of year. Once you reach middle to late February and into March, you're in 40 minute battles. So we've talked a lot about staying poised and keeping our composure, and not showing our cards, good or bad. Just grind it out and stay the course. We've handled our business very well the last two minutes of a game when they throw a press at us. We're just handling it a much higher level and it's a perfect time of year for that to be happening.”

With the loss, Radford has now lost two straight after winning seven in a row and is 14-12 overall and 8-7 in the league.

The Lady Eagles 14-4 run was sparked by six points from McClanahan and four points from Choibekova.

The win ties a school record for conference wins, which was set by the 2008-09 squad. The win is also one shy of tying a record for wins by a first year head coach at Winthrop.

Wright tied the school's freshman record for threes (51) in a season and finished with 14 points.

Radford and Winthrop traded baskets to start the second half before Winthrop used a 7-0 run to build a nine-point lead. The Highlanders answered with a three from Ayana Avery, only to see Winthrop come right back and take advantage of an offensive rebound by Diana Choibekova as she found McClanahan open from three to push the lead back to nine. The lead increased to double-figures for the first time as Wright knocked down a jumper for a 40-29 lead.

The lead was cut down to eight points with 13:46 but Winthrop came right back with four straight points capped off by a long pass to a wide open Taylor Calvert for an easy two.

Both teams battled through the first 10 minutes of the first half as each team shared a couple of leads before Radford jumped ahead 11-7 after an elbow jumper from Victoria Hamilton.

Winthrop fought back for a 13-12 lead after a three in the corner from McClanahan followed by a triple from Wright with 10:15 remaining. Radford grabbed the lead again at 14-13 after an Ema Reskoska hook shot in the paint, but the Lady Eagles answered quickly with a Katie Fitzgerald lay-up on the other end after McClanahan moved the ball up the court quickly and dished off to Fitzgerald.

Another Choibekova three with 6:36 to play in the first put Winthrop in front 20-16 before Radford reeled off four straight points to tie the game with five and a half minutes remaining. Neither team scored on its next couple of possessions until Wright broke the tie with a three on the wing. Choibekova drew two defenders on a pump fake and kicked the ball over to Wright and she buried the three.

Winthrop held the Highlanders to just two points over the final five and a half minutes. Radford was 1-for-6 from the field and committed three turnovers in that span as Winthrop led 26-22 at the break.

The Lady Eagles shot 31 percent from the field in the first half while Radford shot 29 percent and the two teams combined for 16 turnovers. There were five lead changes in the first half and three ties.

Winthrop was able to hold Radford's top two scorers to just nine total points as Da'Naria Erwin Spencer finished with seven points on 3-for-11 shooting and Ashley Buckhannon had two points on 0-for-14 shooting. Buckhannon did dish out a career-best eight assists.

It was the bench that led the way for the Highlanders as it scored 41 of the team's 56 points. Jordynn Gaymon scored a career-high 15 points to lead the team and Cannon added 12 points.

Choibekova is chasing a record of her own as she's closing in on the Big South Conference single-season mark of 107 threes. Choibekova had three on the night en route to 16 points and nine rebounds and now has 105 three-pointers on the year. Calvert finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.

Winthrop will look for a school record fifth consecutive conference win as it hits the road for two games starting Saturday, Feb. 25 at Campbell for a 1 p.m. matchup. Radford will return home for a 3 p.m. matchup with UNC Asheville on Saturday.