Box Score
ORANGEBURG, SC--Winthrop overcame a sixteen point second half deficit to take a brief lead before falling 62-52 to South Carolina State in women's non-conference basketball action Tuesday afternoon at the Memorial Center.

In a game that tipped off at 12 noon, the Eagles appeared to have slept through their wake-up call in the first half as they found themselves trailing 30-18 at intermission.  The 18 points were the lowest offensive production for Winthrop this season.  But after falling behind 36-20 in the opening two minutes of the second half, Winthrop heard the alarm and came fighting back to outscore the Bulldogs over a 10-minute stretch to claim a 41-38 lead.   But the final six minutes of the game belonged to SC State which outscored Winthrop 24-11 to take the victory.

While losing its second straight game, Winthrop's record now drops to 7-8 while South Carolina State improves to 9-4.  The Bulldogs now lead the all-time series against Winthrop 13-6.

Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook said the strange game time was a factor in his team not getting it going early, but he added "whether we play at noon or midnight, it's the same for other team, but we've got to be ready to play from the opening tip regardless." 

Winthrop's first half performance produced its lowest scoring effort of the season as the Eagles trailed 30-18 at the break.  Winthrop's halftime turnover total of seven equaled the team's made field goals as the Eagles connected on 7 of 28 (25 pct.) and went 2 of 10 from behind the arc and converted just 2 of 10 free throws. Taylor Calvert was able to make just one of eight first half free throws. South Carolina State didn't shoot much better (10-39, 25 pct.), but the Bulldogs connected on 5 of 13 three-pointers over the Winthrop zone and went 5 of 6 from the line to build its 12-point halftime advantage.

The Eagles opened the second half in much the same way it started the game, with two straight empty possessions and quickly fell behind by 16 before appearing to wake up thanks to a more aggressive defensive effort that allowed them to get some easy transition baskets that ignited a 21-2 run.  Winthrop held the Bulldogs without a field goal for 10 minutes.  It was at the point of the game with the score tied 43-43 that the Eagles seemed to run out of gas and the Bulldogs got an offensive spark by scoring on four straight layups to retake the momentum and go up 51-43 with 4:59 left in the game. The Bulldog lead went back to 13 at 58-45 with just over a minute left.

Dequesha McClanahan led all scorers in the game with 21 as she had her best shooting performance of the season connecting on 10 of 13 shots.  She accounted for half of Winthrop's total team field goals as the Eagles finished the afternoon shooting 29.9 percent (20-67).  The only other double digit scorer for Winthrop was Diana Choibekova with 12, but she was just 3 of 14 from behind the 3-point arc.  The Eagle senior also had a double-double as she pulled down 10 rebounds.  Winthrop was led on the boards by Taylor Calvert with a game-high 15, but despite the efforts on the glass by those two players, South Carolina State won the rebound battle 53-48.

The Bulldogs were led by Kourtney Williams with 16 and Tiara Knotts with 13.  They actually shot a lower percentage than Winthrop for the game finishing at 29.7 percent on 19 of 64.  The  difference in the game came from behind the arc and at the free throw stripe where the Bulldogs connected on 7 of 20 threes and went 17 for 24 from the charity stripe.  Winthrop was just 4 of 22 from long distance and 8 of 19 at the free throw line.

Winthrop will continue its road swing on Thursday when it travels to UNC Asheville for a 7 p.m. start.