BOILING SPRINGS, NC—Erica Williams scored a game-high 21 points, but the Winthrop women dropped a hard-fought 63-57 battle to Gardner-Webb on Saturday afternoon in Paul Porter Arena.
 
The loss was Winthrop's seventh straight and drops its season record to 2-24 overall and 1-13 in Big South games.  GWU improves to 10-14 and 9-5 in the BSC. 
 
The Eagles showed marked improvement since the previous game against the Runnin' Bulldogs three weeks ago that resulted in a 35-point loss in Rock Hill.  In this game, Winthrop used a balanced scoring attack in the first quarter to take an 18-12 lead as six different players were in the scoring column.
 
Winthrop connected on seven of its 14 first quarter field goals while GWU came out cold and made only five of its 19 shots.  The shooting took a complete turn in the second quarter as Winthrop made just five of its 19 shots and the Runnin' Bulldogs warmed up to make seven of 18 and overtook Winthrop's six-point advantage to lead 34-28 at halftime.
 
Winthrop led 26-20 with 5:32 left in the second quarter following a bucket inside by Amari Grevious, but Kiera Currie led a 10-2 surge by GWU with six points of her own on two 3-pointers to give her team a 30-28 lead with just under two minutes left in the first half.  A layup by Nuba Jackson was the only field goal by the Eagles over the last 3:13 of the second quarter and opening 3:36 of the third period.  That span of almost seven minutes was a critical turning point in the game for Winthrop as it fell behind 39-29.
 
To Winthrop's credit, it did not give in as the Eagles responded with a 13-4 run over a six minute stretch to cut the deficit to a single point at 43-42 following a 3-pointer from Noell Kellers with 1:16 left in the third quarter.
 
Tierra Huntsman, who led a quartet of Runnin' Bulldogs in double figures with a team-high 15 points, then took over the game.  She scored the last four points of the third quarter and four of her team's six points to open the fourth quarter to push GWU's lead to double digits at 53-42 with 8:24 left to play.
 
Gardner-Webb led by as many as 13 points at 63-50 following a layup by Charlisa Jenkins at the 4:14 mark, but Winthrop fought back once again to outscore GWU 7-0 in the final four minutes.  Williams accounted for five of Winthrop's points.
 
Winthrop will continue its road journey next Tuesday when it faces UNC Asheville at 7 p.m. in Kimmel Arena.