Winthrop University Athletics

Longwood Uses The Long Ball To Knock Winthrop Out Of Big South Tournament 79-67

3/8/2013 2:29:00 PM

Kilpatrick Scores 20 In Big South Quarterfinal

Second Half Scoring Drought Dooms Eagles

Box Score

CONWAY-SC--The Winthrop women were knocked out of the Big South Conference Championship 79-67 by No. 7 seed Longwood as a the Lancers used a 19-0 run late in the game and a school-record 3-point shooting performance to secure the win.

Dequesha McClanahan led all scorers in the game with 23 points while Aliyah Kilpatrick finished with 20 and Diana Choibekova added 16, but Longwood clamped down on Winthrop in the final 10 minutes of the game to take the lead and coast to the win.

After falling behind Winthrop was forced to foul and Longwood took advantage by connecting on 19 of 31 free throws. Winthrop (20-11), the No. 2 seeded team coming into the tournament, led by as many as 12 points in the first half and held a 58-50 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the game following a lay-up by Kilpatrick, Winthrop still led 62-58 with 8:16 remaining after McClanahan drove the lane for a lay-up, but following that basket, Longwood (13-18) outscored the Eagles 19-0 over an 8-minute stretch to take a 77-62 lead.

Longwood tied its school record for 3-point field goals with 12, including seven in the first half that kept the Lancers close as they trailed 38-32 after being down by as many as 12 at the midway point of the period. Winthrop led for almost the entire first half after taking a 4-3 lead on a lay-up by Taylor Calvert just over a minute into the contest.

The Lancers cut the Eagles' lead to a single point at 43-42 on a three ball from Chelsea Coward, one of five she made in the game, with 15:30 left in the game, but Winthrop withstood that run and moved back ahead by eight when Kilpatrick's lay-up put her team up 58-50. Longwood outscored Winthrop 8-2 during a two-minute stretch to make it a 60-58 game.

Longwood was finally able to take the lead when Khalliah Ali scored on a lay-up after a Winthrop turnover to put her team up 63-62 with 5:04 left. Coward then hit her big 3-pointer to put the Lancers up by four and Winthrop never was able to respond. During the final five minutes Longwood iced the game by connecting of 9 of 10 free throws.

"Congratulations go to Longwood. They shot the ball very, very well and we couldn't come up with key stops when we needed them," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook. "This game was kind of a momentum thing. They caught fire and it just snowballed." In response to a question on what happened in the final eight minutes, Cook said it was a case of Longwood's defense tightening up. "When you get shots to go down, it gives you energy to go down on the other end and play strong defense, and I thought they (Longwood) did," he said. "When we tried to attack, they had two or three defenders in good position and we weren't able to get to the rim."

Longwood placed four players in double figures led by Crystal Smith with 18. Coward finished with 17 while Raven Williams came off the bench to score 13 and Daeisha Brown added 10.

"I am proud of our team. They have done some fantastic things this season," said Cook. "I feel we are still going to play some basketball, We don't want to see it end here and we have hopes to go on and be playing in the post-season either in the WNIT or the WBI."

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