Rock Hill, S.C. – Coming off a loss to Wake Forest on the road, Winthrop seeks to rebound at UNC Wilmington on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
 

Winthrop Women's Basketball Game Information
Game #5 at UNC-Wilmington	Wednesday, Nov. 20 | 7:00 p.m. (EST) | Watch | Live Stats
Location	Wilmington, N.C. | Trask Coliseum
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SERIES HISTORY VERSUS UNC-WILMINGTON
This will be the 8th time in history that the Eagles and Seahawks will meet. UNC Wilmington leads the series, 4-3. The first meeting occurred on Jan. 3, 1996, a 62-56 victory by Winthrop on the road. Winthrop defeated UNCW on the road on Dec. 8, 1998 to move to 2-0 in the series. The Seahawks got their first victory in the series the next season on Nov. 19, 1999 by a score of 70-45. After a 20-year hiatus, the two teams played again on Dec. 17, 2019 on the road, a 75-63 Eagle win. This began a stretch in which the teams have met five times in the last six seasons (including this season). UNCW has since won the last three meetings since the 2019 encounter. The most recent meeting was on Nov. 29, 2023 in Rock Hill, S.C. with the Seahawks winning 66-58 in overtime. Winthrop head coach Semeka-Randall Lay will face the Seahawks for the seventh time in her career and is 0-6 vs. UNCW. UNCW went 5-25 (3-15 CAA) last season.
 
LAST TIME OUT

• Winthrop fell at Wake Forest Sunday afternoon
• Winthrop outscored Wake Forest in second chance points, 39-25
• The game was tied at 25 at halftime and the Eagles trailed by only 11 at 47-36 heading into the fourth quarter

RECORDS FALL VS. PAINE

• Leonor Paisana had a career-high in assists
• Mya Pierfax and Persais Williams set career-highs in every statistical category
• Porter had a career-high in assists
• Ar'Mani Reid had a career-high in points
• Ciara Harris had a career-high in points and three-pointers made
• Tied a school record for fewest points allowed in the first half since becoming a Division I member in 1986-87 (7)
• Winthrop last accomplished this feat vs. St. Andrew's at home in a 60-29 win on Nov. 23, 2022
• Winthrop scored 100 points in a game for the first time since a 117-43 win over Gallaudet on Nov. 15, 2014
• This was the most points scored the Eagles have scored in 10 years

SEASON HONORS/AWARDS

• Marissa Gasaway, Senior-Forward (Big South Conference Preseason First Team)
  • Started and played in all 30 games last season, led the Big South in rebounds with 318 and was tenth in the Big South in free throw percentage at .730
  • She was named to the Big South All-Conference Honorable Mention at the end of the regular-season
  • Gasaway led the team in free throws made with 81 and rebounds with 318

 

• Jada Ryce, Senior-Guard (Big South Conference Preseason Second Team)
  • Played and started in all 30 games last season
  • Finished in fourth in the Big South in steals with 53, fifth in free throw percentage at .775, eighth in assists with 71 and minutes with 954
  • Named Big South All-Conference Honorable Mention and Big South All-Academic Team at the conclusion of the regular-season
  • Surpassed 500 career points vs. Charleston Southern at home on Jan. 24, 2024
  • Led the team in minutes played with 915, field goals made with 115; total points with 333 and steals with 53

 

• Amourie Porter, Sophomore-Guard/Forward-Big South Player of the Week-Nov. 11-17
  • Porter turned in averages of 14.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 45.0 percent from the field in games at Queens and Wake Forest
  • She led the Eagles to a 69-52 win over the Royals with a season-high 19 points and seven rebounds, including an impressive career-high 12-of-14 performance at the free-throw line
  • The sophomore followed up with nine points, five rebounds, and two assists against Wake Forest

STATISTICAL LEADERS

• Porter leads the team in points with 47 and rebounds with 20
• Harris leads the team in three-pointers with nine
• Paisana leads the team in assists with 14
• Six players are tied for the team lead in blocks with two
• Pierfax leads the team in steals with seven
• Winthrop leads the conference in blocks per game with 3.50
• Winthrop leads the Big South in field goal percentage with .410
• Winthrop is second in the Big South in assists per game with 13.00 and steals per game with 8.50
• Winthrop is second in the conference in rebounds per game with 39.5
• Winthrop has the second best scoring offense in the Big South, averaging 67.3 ppg
• Paisana is second in the conference in assists per game with 4.7
• Wagner is ninth in the same category with 2.5
• Harris is second in the conference in three-pointers per game with 3.5
• Reid, Marc and Gasaway are seventh, eighth and ninth in the conference in blocks per game
• Paisana and Pierfax are tied for sixth in the conference in steals per game with 2.0
• Porter is ranked third in the conference in points per game with 11.8
• Gasaway and Porter are ranked sixth and 10th in the conference in rebounds per game with 5.8 and 5.0, respectively

A LOOK AT THE EAGLES

• Last season, the Eagles finished 14-16 overall and 8-8 in Big South Conference games
• Eagles finished last season having the most wins since they won 17 in 2014-15
• Eagles finished last season with their most Big South wins since they won eight in 2019-20
• Eagles ended the year having their highest conference finish (6th) since 2014-15, when they finished third
• In her third full season as the permanent head coach in 2023-24, Semeka Randall-Lay saw the Eagles register a sweep of Longwood for the second straight year and snapped long skids in the series with UNC Asheville and Gardner-Webb
• Most notably the Eagles had overtime victories over UNC Asheville on the road and Radford at home and sweeping Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville for the first time in nearly a decade
• Randall-Lay also coached the program's 600^th all-time win at South Carolina State, was named to the 2024 American Basketball Hall of Fame, captured her 100^th career coaching victory vs. Longwood at home, and saw Marissa Gasaway and Jada Ryce take home All-Conference honors
• Randall-Lay's squad returns eight players from last season, including five who played in all 30 games in the 2023-24 campaign
• The Eagles also welcome three new additions to the coaching staff: Dominique Duck (director of basketball operations), Myron Poindexter (graduate assistant coach), and Jordan Warlick (video coordinator)
• The team has one freshman, three sophomores (with one transfer), three juniors (with all of them being transfers and two of them coming from conference rival Radford), seven seniors (with one of them being a transfer from conference rival Presbyterian) and two graduate transfer students
• Marissa Gasaway, a senior forward from Louisville, Ky., started and played in all 30 games, led the Big South in rebounds with 318 and was tenth in the Big South in free throw percentage at .730. Gasaway was named the Big South Women's Basketball Player of the Week for games played Nov. 27-Dec. 3. She was named to the Big South All-Conference Honorable Mention at the end of the regular-season. Gasaway led the team in free throws made with 81 and rebounds with 318
• Jada Ryce, a senior guard from McDonough, Ga., played and started in all 30 games. Ryce finished in fourth in the Big South in steals with 53, fifth in free throw percentage at .775, eighth in assists with 71 and minutes with 954. Against Carolina University at home on Dec. 10, 2023, she came within one of tying the school record for steals in a single game set by Cassandra Barnes vs. Sacred Heart on Feb. 12, 1981. Ryce surpassed 500 career points vs. Charleston Southern at home on Jan. 24. Ryce was named Big South All-Conference Honorable Mention and Big South All-Academic Team at the conclusion of the regular-season. She led the team in minutes played with 915, field goals made with 115; total points with 333 and steals with 53
• Ronaltha Marc, a senior guard/forward from Miami, Fla., played in all 30 games. She also started in every game but one and had 14 games in double figures in total points
• Leonor Paisana, a senior point guard from Lisbon, Portugal, played and started in all 30 games. She finished sixth in the Big South in assists with 79, tenth in three-point field goals per game at 1.2 and steals with 42. She entered the Top 10 in school history in three-pointers made vs. Charleston Southern at home on Jan. 24. Paisana scored her 500^th career point at USC Upstate on Feb. 24 and led the team in three-point field goals made with 37 and assists with 79
• Blessing Okoh, a senior forward from Houston, Texas, played in all 30 games and started in 28 of them. She finished third in the Big South in blocked shots with 24. This also led the team
• The other four returnees include sophomore guard Ar'Mani Reid from Jacksonville, N.C; senior center Prunelle Mungo from Philadelphia, Pa.; and sophomore guard Adelaide McLeod from Savoy, Ill.
• McLeod did not play last season while Reid played in 22 games. Mungo played in 24 games and had one game in double figures in points (10 vs. Erskine on Nov. 14, 2023)
• In addition to the four returners, Randall-Lay and her staff have brought in eight newcomers in Olivia Wagner; Ciara Harris; Mya Pierfax; Amourie Porter; Persais Williams; Nuria Cunill; Konnor Gambrell and Bria Beverly
• Winthrop has been predicted to finish fourth in the 2024-25 season
• This is Winthrop's highest pre-season conference finish since 2015-16, when the Eagles were slated to finish second
• Ryce was named to the 2024-25 Big South Conference Women's Basketball Preseason All-Conference First Team while Gasaway was named to the Second Team
• Winthrop is currently 614-909 all-time as a program, their 55th season
• Winthrop is 352-327 all-time at home
• Winthrop is 211-375 all-time in Big South games
• Randall-Lay starts her fifth season as head coach of the Eagles (spent the 2020-21 season in an interim role)
• Randall-Lay is the 17^th head coach in program history
• Randall-Lay is coaching in her 406th career game, all at the NCAA DI level
• Paisana is ninth in school history in career triples made (96)

GET YOUR SEASON TICKETS TODAY
General Admission tickets will be sold for all women's basketball games in the 2024-25 season. Season general admission tickets are currently on sale for $45. Single-game tickets are $105 while courtside season tickets are currently on sale for $80. Get your season pass today by visiting WinthropEagles.com or call the ticket office at (803) 323-2345.
 
WATCH THE EAGLES ON ESPN+
All of the home games during the 2024-25 season will air live on ESPN+. You can also catch all road games in Big South Conference play on ESPN+. To watch Big South games on ESPN+ you must have a subscription to ESPN+. For more information on how to subscribe, click here.

LOOKING AHEAD
Winthrop returns home to face North Florida on Sat., Nov. 23 at 2:00 p.m.