ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop women's basketball team fell 65-37 Saturday afternoon to the South Carolina State Bulldogs in the first game of a Homecoming doubleheader at the Winthrop Coliseum.

HOW IT HAPPENED

South Carolina State (1-2) jumped out to an early 7-1 lead and continued to lead 8-5 with 3:09 left in the first quarter.  The Bulldogs then went scoreless for nearly five minutes as the Eagles went on 7-0 run to take a 12-8 lead with 8:46 left in the first half. 

The two sides then traded the lead twice and Winthrop held a 14-13 advantage with 6:13 on the clock.  South Carolina State then went on a 6-1 run, taking a 19-14 lead with just over four minute left in the half.  The Bulldogs increased their lead to eight with under a minute to go before Marissa Cantrell banked a shot off the glass with two seconds to go to pull the Eagles within six at 26-20 at the break.

Winthrop (1-3) quickly jumped back within two of the Bulldogs less than three minutes into the third quarter.  South Carolina State then went on a 21-5 run over the final 7:18 of the third quarter to open a commanding 48-31 lead going into the fourth.

The Eagles were unable to mount any sort of comeback in the final 10 minutes as the Bulldog increased their lead to as much as 29 with just over three minutes to go and took the 65-37 victory. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Winthrop was unable to place any players in double-figure scoring as Emily Kelley led the team with nine points.  Marissa Cantrell added six points and had a team-high nine rebounds while Ronata Rogers added six points and six boards.

The Eagles struggled from the field, shooting only 19.4 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from three-point range.  Free throws were a problem as well as the Eagles converted only eight of 22 attempts from the charity stripe.

WHAT'S UP NEXT
Winthrop will have a 10-day break before hitting the court again.  The Eagles will travel to Akron on November 28 for a 10:30 a.m. contest against the Zips before heading to Marshall for a 6 p.m. contest against the Thundering Herd on November 30.