Box Score Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC—In a Big South Conference battle for first place, the Liberty Flames prevailed in overtime with a 77-70 win over Winthrop on Thursday night at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The loss was the first at home this season and drops Winthrop to 6-2 in league play and 12-5 overall while Liberty takes over sole possession of first place with a 7-1 record and moves to 11-6 in all games. The victory was the third straight for the Flames over Winthrop and continues their domination of the Eagles as they own a 45-8 advantage in the series.

Schaquilla Nunn sent the game to overtime when she scored on a short jumper with one second left in regulation off a sideline inbounds pass from Erica Williams to knot the game at 62-62.
Winthrop coach Kevin Cook felt Nunn's game-tying basket gave his Eagles the momentum going into the extra period, but Liberty won the tip and Mickayla Sanders drained a three-pointer out of the deep right corner to put the Flames ahead to stay at 65-62.

"It was a tough ball game, hard-fought on both side," said Cook. "Credit Liberty for making plays down the stretch, and credit our team for battling hard and never giving up. Basically, once it got into the overtime period, I thought we had momentum on our side, but they got the tip and No. 1 (Sanders) hit the three ball to give them a lift. From there we played catch up."

Early on, it looked as if this may be Winthrop's night as it jumped out to a 27-12 lead after the opening eight minutes of the game by connecting on nine of its first 12 field goals. But from that point on Liberty regrouped and proved why it has dominated the Big South for the last 17 years.

Winthrop took a 38-31 lead at intermission, but the Flames opened the second half with a 10-0 run to take a 41-38 lead with 16:44 remaining in regulation. The lead grew to as many as seven at 53-46 with just over 11 minutes left on a baseline jumper by Sanders, but Winthrop bounced back with a 12-4 run to reclaim the lead when Nunn scored inside to make it a 58-57 game with 1:40 remaining.

Reagan Miller put Liberty back ahead by one with a driving bank shot with 30 seconds left to give LU the 59-58. Ashley Rininger, who led the Flames with 20 points and 14 rebounds, gave her team a three point lead by converting two free throws with 27 ticks left on the clock. Emily Frazier made it a 62-58 game when she made one of two free throws. McClanahan brought Winthrop to within two on a layup with nine seconds left.

Winthrop quickly fouled Sanders on the inbounds pass and sent her to the line to seal the win, but she missed both free throws setting up the exciting last second shot by Nunn to send the game to OT.

Liberty used its size advantage to gain a huge advantage on the glass and outscored Winthrop 21-9 on second chance points. The Flames won the battle of the boards 57-42.

Winthrop got double figure scoring from four players. Nunn recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds. She also made five blocked shots. Dequesha McClanahan also scored 20 points to move to within nine points of becoming the first 2,000 point scorer in Winthrop history. She also recorded seven assists. Williams scored 13 while Samiya Wright finished with 12.

The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host Longwood at 1 p.m. Liberty will continue its road trip as it heads to Presbyterian College.