Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop's women outscored Presbyterian College by 14 points from the free throw line, including four straight by Erica Williams in the final 20 seconds to help the Eagles pull out a 54-51 Big South Conference victory Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.
 
The win, Winthrop's second straight on the season and fifth straight over the Blue Hose, improves the Eagles to 6-4 in the conference and 10-9 overall, while PC drops to 5-5 and 10-9.  Winthrop now leads the overall series 19-3.
 
Winthrop was led by the trio of Schaquilla Nunn, Kilpatrick and Williams who combined to score 40 of their team's 54 points.  Nunn had her eighth double-double of the season with a game-high 15 points and 14 rebounds.  Williams scored 13 and Kilpatrick finished with 12.  PC was led by Keyonna Allen with 12 points while Cortney Storey had 10.
 
The outcome of the game came down to final 1 minute, 6 seconds when Winthrop was awarded the ball out of bounds under its own basket following a video review that reversed a shot clock violation whistle.  The officials ruled the Winthrop shot taken by Samiya Wright did graze the side of the rim just before the shot clock expired. 
 
Winthrop got the ball to Kilpatrick who worked the clock down and drove the lane in traffic.  Her off balance off hand jumper banked in with 40 seconds remaining to give Winthrop its largest lead of the game at 50-46.  PC's Storey cut the lead to a point with a 3-pointer with 24 ticks left on the clock.  Winthrop was able to get the ball to Williams who calmly knocked down both free throws with 20 seconds to push the lead back to three points at 52-49. 
 
Blue Hose guard Janie Miles answered with a layup with four seconds remaining to make it a one-point game again.  Williams was fouled again and went back to the line where she made two more free throws.  A half court 3-point attempt by Aianna Kelly was wide left.
 
"We felt pretty good with Erica at the line," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook.  "I just trust her in those situations.  As I thought she was immediately fouled and she went down and knocks them both in.  We did give them a chance to shoot a three that would have tied the game at the end.  When we gather on Monday for practice, we will go that situation because we can't let a team take shot."
 
PC, which came into the game ranked 3rd in the nation for scoring defense, 6th in field goal percentage defense and s7th in 3-point FG defense, made it tough for the Eagles to score from the floor.  Winthrop shot 36 percent (18 of 50) for the game and went 2 of 13 from behind the arc (15.4 pct.), but the difference in the game came at the free throw line and on the offensive boards where Winthrop had a 14-1 advantage on second chance points.
 
Winthrop converted 16 of 21 free throws while PC was 2 for 6.  From the floor, the Blue Hose connected on 42 percent overall (22 of 52) and 5 of 13 from three land.
 
"When they score 14 more points than you from the free throw line, you're going to have a tough time beating them and that's what it came down to," said PC coach Ronny Fisher.
 
The Eagles trailed by seven to begin the game and fell behind by five twice in the second half, but they never let the Blue Hose take off, thanks to a better perimeter defense in the final period and work on the offensive glass. Winthrop led just once in the first half by a one point at 11-10 and again by a single point in the second half, 39-38, with just over nine minutes left in the game.  They trailed by
 
PC took its halftime lead as it connected on 4 of 7 three-pointers, including one from Jameka Braden with 29 seconds left to give the Blue the lead at intermission. The Blue Hose came into the game connecting on 28 percent from behind the arc on the season. In the second half, Winthrop limited PC to just one of six  on three balls.
 
The Eagles fell behind 7-0 in the opening 4 minutes, 32 seconds on a 15 footer by Kelly, a three from Storey and a layup by Kaycie Reffner.  Winthrop got on the board at the 15:04 mark when Nunn got free inside for a layup to spark a 11-4 Eagles run.  Williams scored on a follow shot, Zoe Vernon connected on a 3-pointer from the left corner, and Nunn hit a 15 foot jumper to draw Winthrop to within a point.  Williams then gave Winthrop its only lead of the first half with two free throws just under the 10 minute mark.
 
PC then ran off a 10-2 run in less than two minutes to take a 20-13 lead at the 8:05 mark.  Storey got the run started with back-to-back layups and Braden ended it with a 3-pointer.  Winthrop responded behind the defensive effort and scoring of Kilpatrick to fight back and tie the game at 23-23 with 1 minute, 30 seconds remaining when Ezinne Mbamalu scored in the paint.  Kilpatrick scored four points, made three steals and handed out two assists during that four minute stretch.
 
Winthrop will return to action on Tuesday when the Eagles travel to Longwood for a rematch.  Winthrop won the first meeting this year, 81-48, back on Dec. 30.