Box Score Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC--Winthrop earned a sweep of its regular season series with a 90-61 win over Coastal Carolina on Saturday afternoon behind the combined 47 points by
Erica Williams and
Dequesha McClanahan.
The win improves the Eagles to 14-6 overall and 8-3 in the Big South while Coastal falls to 10-10 and 6-5.
Williams led all scorers and rebounders in the game with 24 points and 10 rebounds as she recorded her fifth double-double of the season. McClanahan finished the game with 23 points and moved past former Coastal Carolina standout Nikki Reddick into second place on the Big South all-time scoring list. She is now 112 points away from becoming the Big South's all-time leader.
Pamela Decheva and
Samiya Wright reached double figures for the Eagles. Decheva scored 12, all on three-point shots, while Wright added 10 with nine of those coming in the opening 11 minutes. Without
Schaquilla Nunn available for action because of the flu, Winthrop got outrebounded 44-42. Coastal's Savanah Pippin led all rebounders in the game with 11.
Winthrop broke the game open in the first 10 minutes as it blew out to a 30-9 lead. Winthrop led 49-26 at intermission as it connected on 7 of 10 three-point field goals. The seven made threes in the first half equaled the season high for a game. Winthrop closed out the game with 10 of 17 from beyond the arc.
Coastal Carolina was led in scoring by Angelica Henry with 18 while AJ Jordan scored 13 and Alexx Puckett finished with 11.
The Eagles trailed just once in the game at 4-3 just three minutes in after AJ Jordan scored on a baseline jumper, but McClanahan answered with a three to give Winthrop the lead for good with 16:39 on the clock. Winthrop went on the lead by as many as 25 in the first half when McClanahan converted two free throws to make the score 49-24 in the final seconds.
Coastal got no closer than 17 points in the second half when Henry nailed a 3-pointer with 13:07 remaining to make it a 57-40 game, but Winthrop scored nine straight points to stretch the lead to 26 at 66-40, and it coasted the rest of the way. The largest lead of the game came in the final minute when Winthrop went ahead by 31.
Winthrop will hit the road for its next game as it travels to Charleston Southern on Thursday, Jan. 30, for a 7:00 p.m. start.
