LYNCHBURG, VA—
Erica Williams closed her collegiate career with a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds, but #9 seed Winthrop fell to #8 Gardner-Webb 82-43 in the first round of the 2017 Big South Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday night in the Vines Center.
Winthrop ends its season with a 2-29 record while GWU improves to 12-18 and advances to Friday's quarterfinal round to face Radford.
Two problems that have plagued Winthrop all season—turnovers and scoring droughts—reared their ugly heads again. Winthrop committed 23 turnovers that led to a 30-4 advantage for the Runnin' Bulldogs, and the Eagles went seven minutes and 16 seconds to span the second and third quarters without scoring. They trailed 19-15 following a layup by Uchey Ufochukwu with 4:38 left in the second quarter and did not scored again until
Naima Jackson made a short jumper with 7:22 remaining the third period. By that time GWU had gone on a 29-0 run to take complete control of the game and led 48-17.
The Eagles came out in the first quarter and played Gardner-Webb on even terms. Winthrop took a brief 9-8 lead with just over a minute left in the period on a layup by
Angela Coello Perez, but GWU's Morgan Pointer answered quickly with a baseline jumper to give the Runnin' Bulldogs the lead at 10-9 to close the first quarter.
Erica Williams Receives All-BSC First Team Award from Kyle Kallander
Winthrop kept the game close in the first five minutes of the second quarter. Back-to-back layups by Williams drew the Eagles to within two points at 15-13 with 6:33 left in the first half. GWU widened the lead to six at 19-13 before Ufochukwu' s basket made it 19-15. At that point in the game, Gardner-Webb made eight consecutive field goals, including three from 3-point distance, to take a 38-15 halftime lead. The 15 first half points by Winthrop marked its third lowest total of the season.
The 24 points by Williams gives her 1,777 to close out her career. She also finished with 848 career rebounds. She was honored prior to the game for being voted to the All-Big South First-Team.
Gardner-Webb had three players in double figures, led by Pointer with 16 while Carly Plentovich and Alexus Hill scored 12 each. Winthrop finished the game shooting 35.8 percent (19 of 53) while GWU connected on 46.3 percent (31-67).
