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ROCK HILL, SC—Gardner-Webb jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead behind two three-pointers by Mayhana Dunovant and never trailed as the Bulldogs ended Winthrop's unbeaten Big South Conference streak with a 79-65 win Monday night at the Winthrop Coliseum.
 
Winthrop falls to 7-6 overall and 3-1 in the Big South while GWU improves to 6-9 and 2-4 with its second straight league victory.  The Bulldogs have won two of the last three meetings and lead the all-time series 10-8.
 
Dunovant led all scorers in the game with a career-high 26 points as she connected on 7 of 10 shots from behind the arc.  It was her three ball with 8 minutes, 13 seconds left in the game that seemed to take the air out of a Winthrop comeback attempt.  After falling behind 52-40, the Eagles cut the deficit to just five on Schaquilla Nunn's back-to-back baskets and a layup from Aliyah Kilpatrick to make it a 54-49 game, but Dunovant dropped a three-pointer from the left wing to put her team up by eight with 7:40 remaining.
 
GWU went on to increase the lead to as many as 16 in the final minute.
 
"Gardner-Webb came out more aggressively that we did and they set the tone," said Winthrop coach Kevin Cook.  "They got out to the early lead and it seemed like we played catch up the whole night.  You have to tip your cap to Gardner-Webb who came out two games in a row and went 10 for 21 from three.  We played good enough offensively to win this game, but we did not get the key stops and we let Dunovant take it to us."
 
Cook said his team wanted to mark Dunovant on the defensive end.  "But, ironically you wouldn't have thought so by looking at the game.  She played a heck of a game and was the difference in the outcome," he said.
 
Winthrop sophomore Erica Williams did her best to keep her team within striking distance.  She finished the night with her third straight double-double with a season-high 24 points along with 10 rebounds.  Joining her in double figures were Aliyah Kilpatrick with 15 and Samiya Wright with 14. 
 
The two key stats in the game were GWU's 3-point shooting advantage and Winthrop's turnovers.  The Bulldogs outscored Winthrop by 24 points from beyond the arc and had a 24-15 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
Winthrop is now 0-4 on the season when its opponent scores more than 63 points.
 
The Eagles will now prepare for its next game on Thursday when they host UNC Asheville at 7 p.m.