Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC—Erica Williams and Schaquilla Nunn combined to score 46 points to lead Winthrop's women to an 81-68 Big South Conference win over Coastal Carolina on Senior Day at the Winthrop Coliseum.
 
Williams had one of her best overall performances of the season as she recorded her 11^th double-double of the year and 21^st of her career with 24 points and 12 rebounds. She connected on 11 of 17 field goals and finished with a game-high six assists and four steals. Nunn scored 22 points while Aliyah Kilpatrick and Samiya Wright finished with 14 as the Eagles avenged a 19-point loss at Coastal last month.
 
Winthrop improves to 12-6 in conference play and 16-11 overall.  Winthrop is now 9-0 when it scores more than 70 points in a game this season. Coastal falls to 6-12 in BSC play and 12-15 overall.
 
With two regular season games remaining, Winthrop still has a chance to finish as high as second in the final conference standings, but has clinched an all-important top five seed with the win over Coastal.  The top five seeds receive a bye into the quarterfinals of the Big South Championship Tournament.
 
The game marked the final home appearance for Wright and Taylor Calvert, who were honored prior to the game, and featured a matchup of the Big South's top two scorers in Williams and Coastal senior AJ Jordan.  Jordan, who came into the game with a one-half point lead over Williams, finished with 17.
 
"I've been blessed to have three Senior Days now and they've all been victories," said head coach Kevin Cook.  "I thought today you saw from Samiya (Wright) what you've seen throughout her career which is steady shooting and excellent effort on defense.  I thought we saw some good defense from Taylor (Calvert).  But beyond Senior Day, I thought we played well as a team, especially offensively. We shared the ball and everybody got involved.  We are going to have to do a better job defensively these two games."
 
Winthrop never trailed in the game after getting off to a quick start. The Eagles led 12-4 as four different players scored in the first 4 minutes, 8 seconds.  Both Williams and Nunn scored four points in the early going. Coastal responded with a 14-7 run behind the inside play of Anna Vogt, who scored eight of her team-high 22 points during that six minute stretch.  Ced Gibson's 15-footer drew the Chanticleers to within 19-18 with 9:08 left in the first half.
 
Wright responded with a 3-pointer to spark a 24-7 Winthrop run over the next 6 minutes, 48 seconds to push the lead to 18 at 43-25.  The Eagles led 43-30 at halftime.
 
The Eagles came out quickly in the second half to take a 20-point lead at 57-37 with 14:40 left in the game.  Williams and Nunn had six points each during the 14-7 run.  Jordan then scored seven points to get Coastal to within 15 points at 63-48 with 9:55 remaining, but Williams answered with a tough eight-foot fall-away jumper along the baseline to push the lead back to 17 and the Eagles maintained a 15 to 19 point lead until the final minute when Coastal got to within a dozen points on a jumper by Jas Adams that made the score 77-65 with 1:14 left.
 
Winthrop connected on 48 percent of its field goals (32 of 67) compared to 44 percent (28 of 64) for Coastal.  Behind William's effort on the boards, Winthrop won the rebounding battle 44-36.  The Eagles converted 15 of 23 free throws while the Chants were 9 of 16. 
 
Winthrop will now prepare for its final two games next week.
 
"To a degree we still control our own destiny," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook.  "That's easier said than done with both of our final two games being on the road.  We'll practice tomorrow and then have a plan for both games.  Then we'll throw the ball in the air and see what happens."   Winthrop closes out the season with games at Liberty next Tuesday night and at Presbyterian on Saturday.
 
"It does matter, but then it really doesn't matter (about where the team is seeded among the top five) because this is a one-bid league and whoever wins down at Myrtle Beach will be one representing the Big South in the NCAA Tournament," said Cook. So, you've got to win three straight, you've got to line up against a good team and play well, and hopefully shoot the ball well."