Winthrop Leads Wire-To-Wire In 81-70 Win Over William & Mary

1/2/2013 9:33:00 PM

Kilpatrick Scores 15 In Win Over William & Mary

Choibekova Connects On Five Second Half 3-Pointers To Key Victory

Box Score
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WILLIAMSBURG, VA--Winthrop's women placed four players in double figures and got a triple-double from Dequesha McClanahan to claim a 81-70 victory over William & Mary on Wednesday night at Kaplan Arena.

McClanahan scored 14 points, dished out a season-high 12 assists and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Eagles to their first ever win in six tries over the Tribe and improves the Eagles to 7-6 on the season while William & Mary drops to 2-9.

The Eagles will continue their three-game road trip when they face Longwood on Saturday in a Big South Conference matchup at 5 p.m.

Senior forward Diana Choibekova led Winthrop in scoring with 17 points, including 15 in the second half when she knocked down five 3-pointers in seven attempts. Freshman guard Aliyah Kilpatrick had a strong game with 15 points and four assists while sophomore guard Samiya Wright rounded out the double figure scorers as she also pumped in 14.

The Tribe was led by sharpshooter Janine Aldridge with 19 points while Jasmen Boone had 17 and Kyla Kerstettler finished with 11.

Winthrop's defense held William & Mary to 29 percent shooting from the floor (24-81) while the Eagles connected on 44 percent (32-72). Winthrop went 10 of 29 from behind the arc while the Tribe finished 11-35.

After taking a 34-31 halftime lead, Winthrop quickly extended the lead to nine at 41-32 with 17:52 left to play on Choibekova's first three pointer of the game and first in three contests. The Eagles still led by nine when Taylor Calvert scored inside to make the score 50-41 at the 13:25 mark.

After Wright's three-point play with 10:03 left put Winthrop up by 10 at 59-49, the Tribe went on a 13-5 run to trim the deficit to two points at 64-62 on a layup by Jaclyn McKenna with 6:30 remaining, but Choibekova responded.

She nailed a 3-pointer to give Winthrop some breathing room at 67-62 and then gave her team another 10-point cushion with her fourth trey of the half that made it a 74-64 game with 2:22 left.

William & Mary got four straight points by Kerstettler to make it a six-point game, but Choibekova delivered the knock out punch with her fifth three of the half to give Winthrop a 77-68 lead with 1:26 remaining.

Winthrop drew first blood in the game on a 3-pointer from McClanahan and then after the game was tied at 5-5, the Eagles went on a 15-4 run as they took advantage of a cold-shooting start by William & Mary to lead 20-9 after Wright buried a 3-pointer with just over 10 minutes left in the period.

The Tribe then began to make some shots and went on a 9-0 run to cut the Eagles' lead to two at 20-18. William & Mary managed to knot the score at 22-22 on a jumper by Kerstetter at the 6:42 mark, but the Eagles responded with a 7-0 run on a couple of layups by Tiffany Charles and a bucket by Kilpatrick to put Winthrop ahead 29-22.

The Eagles' halftime lead could have been much greater if not for the shooting of Aldridge who knocked down three straight 3-pointers in the final 1:35, including her third with just one second left in the period.

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