ROCK HILL, SC – Hampton outscored the Eagles 23-2 in the second quarter Tuesday night as the Winthrop women's basketball team fell 84-63 at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Winthrop falls to 8-10 overall and 4-3 in the Big South with the loss while Hampton improves to 9-8 overall and 5-1 in the Big South.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Hampton jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening 2:09 of the contest only to see the Eagles battle back on a 6-0 run.  The two sides went back and forth before the Pirates went back up by five with 4:38 on the clock.  Winthrop responded with a 10-3 run to take its first lead of the game at 16-14 with two minutes to play. 

Hampton went up by three with seven seconds to go.  The Eagles inbounded the ball to Miquela Santoro who went three quarters of the court and launched a three-pointer as time expired that swished through the net to tie the game at 23-23 after the opening 10 minutes.

The Eagles struggled on both ends of the floor in the second quarter.  Winthrop hit only one of its 15 attempts from the field and turned the ball over eight times.  Hampton shot 55 outscored the Eagles 23-2 in the second quarter and took a 46-25 lead into halftime.

Winthrop was finally able to get shots to fall in the third quarter but was unable to put a run together through the opening five minutes to cut into the Hampton advantage.  The Eagles put together a strong defensive stretch towards the latter part of the third quarter and cut the deficit to 65-47 heading into the final 10 minutes.

The Eagles tried to find some momentum early in the fourth quarter as Santoro connected on a three-pointer 24 seconds into the period.  Unfortunately, Winthrop was unable to string buckets and stops together as they fell 84-63.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Essence Cowan and Kem Nwabudu each tallied 15 points to lead the Eagles.  Miquela Santoro added 11 points in the setback.  Kayla Atkins led the team with eight rebounds while Anika Riley pulled down seven.

Winthrop shot 30 percent for the game including a 43 percent clip in the third quarter.  Hampton shot 50 percent for the game and won the rebounding battle 45-38.

WHAT'S UP NEXT
Winthrop remains at home for its next conference contest as the Eagles host the Presbyterian Blue Hose Saturday at 2 p.m.