ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop women's basketball team earned a thrilling 55-52 victory Saturday afternoon over the Presbyterian Blue Hose at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Winthrop improves to 9-10 overall and 5-3 in the Big South with the victory while Presbyterian falls to 4-14 overall and 2-5 in the conference.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Eagles and Blue Hose both took turns making runs in the first quarter.  Presbyterian opened on a 4-0 run followed by a 5-0 run by Winthrop.  The Blue Hose responded with 10 straight points in only 1:19 to go up 14-5.  The Eagles finished with the last 2:12 of the period with seven unanswered points to pull within 14-12 after the first quarter.

Presbyterian continued to lead by four two minutes into the second quarter before the Eagles went on a 10-0 run to take a 24-18 lead with 2:38 left in the half.  Winthrop looked poised to take a five-point lead into the break Presbyterian's Kacie Hall was fouled on a three-point attempt with 0.2 seconds on the clock.  She knocked down all three free throws and Winthrop held a 26-24 lead at the break.

Winthrop increased its lead to six early in the third quarter only to see Presbyterian respond with an 8-0 run to take a two-point edge.  Winthrop regained a one-point lead with 3:29 on the clock and then the scoring slowed on both sides.  In the last 61 seconds both sides traded buckets and Winthrop held a 42-41 lead heading into the final quarter.

Presbyterian regained a one-point lead 45 seconds into the fourth quarter but the Eagles responded with a 9-0 run to take a 51-43 lead with 5:23 on the clock.  Presbyterian's Kacie Hall responded with back-to-back three pointers to cut the Winthrop lead back to two.

Kem Nwabudu put the Eagles back up by four with a jumper with 1:18 remaining but Hall came through again for the Blue Hose on the next possession, knocking down a three to bring the Blue Hose within one with 47 seconds left.  Winthrop turned the ball over on the next possession but Presbyterian was unable to capitalize.  Anika Riley grabbed the board off the PC miss and was fouled.  She hit both free throws to put Winthrop back up by three.  Hall tried to get a three-pointer off with five seconds to go but was stripped of the ball on the way up and the Eagles were able to dribble out the clock. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Jah'Che Whitfield led all Eagle scorers with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field.  Miquela Santoro and Essence Cowan each added eight points.  Kem Nwabudu led the Eagles with nine rebounds.  Kelcie Hall led all scorers with 23 points.

The Eagles shot 38 percent from the field for the game including a 48 percent clip in the second half.  Winthrop held Presbyterian to 35 percent shooting for the game and 27 percent in the fourth quarter.  The two sides were even on rebounding at 37.

WHAT'S UP NEXT
Winthrop hits the road for its next three Big South contests starting Tuesday as the Eagles head to High Point to take on the Panthers at 7 p.m.