Rock Hill, S.C. – Coming off a 71-66 win at UNC Asheville to wrap up the regular-season, Winthrop women's basketball (14-14, 8-7 Big South) takes on Charleston Southern (14-15, 10-6) in the quarterfinals of the Hercules Tires Big South Conference Women's Basketball Championship at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tenn. The game will be on Thursday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
A LOOK AT CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
- This will be the 70th time in history that the Eagles and Buccaneers will meet, with Charleston Southern leading the series, 36-33
- The first meeting in the series was a 79-54 victory by the Eagles in Rock Hill on Jan. 9, 1991 as the Eagles won the first three meetings
- From 1992 to 2005 the Buccaneers won 21 of the next 27 meetings but Winthrop answered with a 16-3 run from 2006 to 2015
- Charleston Southern has since won 12 of the last 20 meetings since 2016
- The two teams split their regular-season meetings this year
- Charleston Southern won 78-50 on their court on Jan. 15 but Winthrop got revenge in Rock Hill on Feb. 5 by a score of 54-47, snapping a five-game skid in the series
- Winthrop head coach Semeka-Randall Lay will face Charleston Southern for the 11th time in her career and is 4-6 against the Buccaneers
- In their most recent game, after falling behind early, Charleston Southern overcame a 21-6 first quarter deficit on Saturday to defeat the Radford Highlanders 60-50 in the Buc Dome
- The Buccaneers finish the regular season with a 14-15 record overall and a 10-6 conference record. It is their second most wins in school history during conference play and just their second time ever having double-digit conference wins
EAGLES IN OVERTIME AFTER THE WIN AT PRESBYTERIAN (JAN. 29)
- Winthrop moves to 5-7 all-time on the road in overtime games
- Winthrop moves to 10-14 all-time in Big South regular-season games in overtime
- Winthrop is 1-0 in overtime this year
- Winthrop is now 16-25 all-time in overtime
LAST TIME OUT
- Winthrop concluded the regular-season with a dominant second half at UNC Asheville Saturday afternoon
- Three Eagles played more than 30 minutes, with Olivia Wagner playing nearly the entire contest (39)
- Amourie Porter was 10-10 from the free throw line
- Three Eagles grabbed more than five rebounds
- Winthrop made 61% of their shots in the fourth quarter
- Winthrop made 87% of their free throws (14-16) in the fourth quarter and was 70% (21-30) for the game, six more percentage points than the Bulldogs in that area
RARE FEATS
- Winthrop was 0-8 from three-point range vs. Charleston Southern
- The last time this happened was in the opening game of the season at Georgia Tech on Nov. 4, 2024 (0-10 from deep in an 85-39 loss)
- This is the 2nd time this season Winthrop has failed to make at least one three-point shot
- Before the game at Georgia Tech this season, the last time Winthrop failed to make a three-point basket was vs. Texas A&M in Berkeley, Calif. on Nov. 24, 2023 (an 84-32 loss)
- The last time Winthrop failed to make a triple but won a game was at home vs. Radford on Feb. 15, 2014 (went 0-7 from deep and won 57-40)
- This feat happened twice during the 2013-14 season (went 0-6 from deep in a 70-49 win over Longwood at home on Jan. 18, 2014)
- This has happened only four times since the 2002-03 season
RECORDS FALL VS. PAINE (NOV. 10)
- Winthrop set numerous records with a 111-32 defeat of Paine College in the home opener
- Leonor Paisana had a career-high in assists
- Mya Pierfax and Persais Williams set career-highs in every statistical category
- Amourie 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
- Amourie Porter, Sophomore-Guard/Forward-2025 Big South First Team All-Conference/Newcomer of the Year
- Played in all 29 games, starting 14
- Was a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line at UNC Asheville (3/1)
- Had 20 games in double figures in points
- Had a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds vs. Radford (Jan. 4)
- Had a career-high 12 made free throws at Queens (11/13/24)
- Had a career-high seven assists vs. UNC Asheville (Jan. 7)
- First on the team in points with 381 and in free throws made with 124
- Second on the team in rebounds with 174
- Third on the team in assists with 44 and in minutes with 793
- Named the Big South Player of the Week on Nov. 18, 2024
- Second in the conference in conference games only in free throw percentage with .908
- This also ranks 19th in the nation
- Nuria Cunill, Senior-Forward-2025 Big South All-Academic Team
- Approaching 50 career rebounds as an Eagle
- Has played more than 200 minutes this season
- Of the 29 regular season games that Winthrop played, Cunill played in 25 of them and scored 68 points
- She was the leading rebounder vs. SC State (12/11/24) with five
- The game against the Bulldogs was also the only game this season in which she registered double figures in points scored with 12
- Leads the team in FG% with .563
- Fifth on the team in FT% with .700
STATISTICAL LEADERS
- Porter leads the team in points with 381
- Gasaway leads the team in rebounds with 182
- Harris leads the team in three-pointers with 36
- Blessing Okoh leads the team in blocks with 10
- Ronaltha Marc leads the team in steals with 46
- Olivia Wagner leads the team in assists with 68
- Winthrop is third in the conference in steals per game with 8.76
- Winthrop is fourth in the conference in field goal percentage with .395
- Porter is ranked fourth in the conference in points per game with 13.1
- Gasaway and Porter are ranked 6th and 9th in the conference in rebounds per game, respectively
- Marc is eighth in the conference in steals per game with 1.6
- Wagner is ninth in the conference in assists per game with 2.5
A LOOK BACK AT 2023-24
- 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 600th all-time win at South Carolina State, was named to the 2024 American Basketball Hall of Fame, captured her 100th 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 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 500th 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 AT A GLANCE
- 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 627-921 all-time as a program, their 55th season
- Winthrop is 359-331 all-time at home
- Winthrop is 221-382 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 17th head coach in program history
- Randall-Lay is coaching in her 431st career game, all at the NCAA DI level
- Eagles have the most overall wins since they won 17 in 2014-15
- Eagles have the most Big South wins since they won 13 in 2014-15
- Eagles have their highest conference finish (5th) since 2014-15, when they finished third
- Winthrop is seeking their first win in the conference tournament since Mar. 9, 2014 when the Eagles defeated High Point in the title game in Conway, S.C. by a final score of 87-74
- The win was the only time Winthrop has won the Big South Tournament and resulted in their only trip to the Big Dance, where they fell 45-87 on Mar. 22 to Duke at the world renowned Cameron Indoor Stadium
- Winthrop has not won a conference tournament game in 10 seasons
- Winthrop is 15-37 all-time at the Big South Tournament
- Last season, Winthrop fell to Radford 64-51 on Mar. 7, 2024 in the quarterfinals at the Qubein Center in High Point, N.C.
- Winthrop is 1-3 all-time vs. Charleston Southern in the Big South Tournament
- Winthrop is 1-0 all-time in the Big South Tournament on Mar. 6
- This is the first time that Winthrop will play a Big South Tournament game in the state of Tennessee
- All other tournaments have occurred in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia
- Winthrop is 12-26 all-time in the first round/quarterfinals of the tournament
- Winthrop is 4-5 all-time as the five seed
- Eagle head coach Semeka Randall-Lay has moved into a tie for seventh on the all-time coaching wins list in school history (Karen Brown also has 49)
- Randall-Lay needs one more win for 50 wins as the Winthrop head coach
- A win next week would also move Randall-Lay into a tie for sixth on the school history coaching wins list (Mary Roland Griffin also has 50)
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 $10. 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
In the event of a Winthrop victory, the Eagles will take on the winner of No. 1 seed High Point vs. No. 8 Presbyterian or No. 9 UNC Asheville on Saturday, Mar. 8 at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
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