Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC—Erica Williams and Schaquilla Nunn recorded double-doubles as they combined for 43 points and 28 rebounds to lead Winthrop to a 81-48 Big South Conference victory over Longwood on Tuesday night in the Winthrop Coliseum.

Williams finished with a game-high 22 points and pulled down 11 rebounds while Nunn scored 21 and tied her career-high with 17 rebounds to help the Eagles improve to 6-5 overall and move to 2-0 in conference play.  Longwood, which was coming off a Big South win on Sunday over Gardner-Webb, falls to 1-12 on the year and 1-3 in the league.

With Williams and Nunn combining to shoot 19 of 33 from the floor, the Eagles finished the night shooting a season-best 55.9 percent on 33 for 59 field goal attempts.  Winthrop also had its best free throw shooting performance of the season as it converted 13 of 16 for 81.3 percent. 

"After not playing for nine or 10 days, we shook off the rust early," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook. "I was pleased for the most part with our defense.  We held them to 30 percent shooting."  Cook said he was also happy with his team's ball movement, the way they shared the ball, and how it got on the boards. The Eagles finished the night with a total of 14 assists from six different players.  Williams led her team with four assists. 

 "We knew we needed to come out early and take control of the game, but if we had allowed them to stay around, we knew that eventually their threes would start to drop, so we knew we couldn't allow them in the game at all," said Nunn. 

Winthrop's defense held Longwood to 30.4 percent from the floor (17 for 56) and the Eagles limited the Lancers to just 6 of 26 from behind the 3-point arc.  Add the 40-30 rebounding advantage and 18 forced turnovers, it proved to be too much for Longwood to overcome.  Winthrop closed the game with a 29-11 advantage in points off turnovers and outscored the Lancers 20-8 on second chance points. 

After a 10-day break for Christmas, Winthrop came out focused against the Lancers and trailed just once in the game at 2-0 after Longwood's Emily Nylen scored in the paint after only 44 seconds had elapsed. 
The Eagles built a 13-6 lead at the 14:04 mark when Williams pulled up in the lane for a short jumper, but Longwood scored six unanswered points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Kyndal Skersick and Jaclyn Reagan to make it 13-12 with just under 12 minutes remaining in the period.

Nunn then scored on a follow shot before Naima Jackson connected on a baseline jumper and Pamela Decheva nailed a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 20-12 lead.  Winthrop opened its first double-digit lead in the final 2 minutes, 27 seconds of the first half thanks to back-to-back three-point plays by Williams.  Her layup and free throw gave the Eagles a 32-22 advantage. She followed that 58 seconds later with a follow shot on an offensive rebound and another free throw to make it 35-22. Williams scored eight of her 22 points in the first half while Kilpatrick had seven, including five of her team's first 11 points in the opening five minutes of the contest.

Winthrop quickly expanded its lead to 22 at 47-25 on a 10-footer by Williams with just under 15 minutes left in the game.  The lead was still 20 at the midway point of the final period after Williams converted another 3-point play and then went the length of the court for a layup to put the Eagles up 54-34 at the 10:22 mark. The Eagles continued to apply the pressure over the final 10 minutes and outscored the Lancers 27-14 for the final margin. 

Winthrop returns to action on Saturday when it travels to North Charleston to take on Charleston Southern at 2 p.m.  That game can be viewed for free on the Big South Network's video stream. The Eagles will return home on Monday, Jan. 5, to face Gardner-Webb in a 7 p.m. contest.