ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop women's basketball team with six players dressed for the game gave a valiant effort on Saturday before dropping a 58-50 Big South Conference contest to Charleston Southern in the Winthrop Coliseum.
 
With the loss Winthrop falls to 3-17 overall and 2-9 in conference play while CSU evened its record at 10-10 on the year and 5-6 in the league with the sweep of the regular season series.
 
Winthrop entered the game without the services of point guard Aliyah Kilpatrick who came into the game averaging 13.4 points, but was ruled out of action due to an ankle injury. 
 
After falling behind 23-7 after the first quarter, Winthrop whittled the deficit to 10 at halftime as the Eagles outscored the Lady Bucs 17-11 in the second period to trail 34-24 at intermission. Erica Williams accounted for 13 of her game-high 21 points in the first half.
 
The Eagles narrowed the deficit to eight points after three quarters and had a chance to tie the game at 43 with 8:14 remaining when Erica Williams' layup on a drive to the basket was waved off on a charging call. 
 
"That play seemed to turn the game around.  We had the momentum and were rolling. Erica and the team were in a rhythm," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook.  "You saw it.  The tape will be viewed, but we gave ourselves a chance to win and our players fought really hard today and I'm very proud of them."
 
After the charge call on Williams, CSU responded with a 7-0 run, including five from Alyssa Mann to up the margin to 10 at 50-40 and the Eagles got no closer than six the rest of the way after Ronata Rogers and Nuba Jackson scored on consecutive possession to make it 50-44 with 4:59 left to play.  A baseline jumper by Naima Jackson cut the Lady Bucs' lead to six again at 56-50 with just over a minute remaining.
 
The injuries have given Rogers increased playing time and she responded on Saturday with her second career double-double, with both coming during the month of January.  She finished with 15 rebounds and 12 points, which tied her career highs in both categories.  Walk-on Kayla Atkins also grabbed a career-high nine rebounds as the Eagles won the battle of the boards 49-45.
 
Freshman guard Rachel Burns led CSU with 19 points, including 16 in the first half when she connected on six of eight field goals.  Mann finished with 15.
"With the rash of injuries we've had, nobody has gotten their head down. They continue to fight and they always come to the next practice with the idea we are going to win the game and that is how we are always going to approach the game."
 
Winthrop has a short turnaround time as it will be back on the court Monday night to host UNC Asheville for a 7 p.m. game.