CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team held the visiting Winthrop Eagles to a new season-low in points on Saturday at the Templeton Center, but the Eagles took a 51-43 win over the Blue Hose.
PC moves to 5-17 overall and 3-10 in the Big South. The Blue Hose will next head to Radford on Thursday for a 7 p.m. matchup. Winthrop improves to 16-6, 10-3 and returns home to host Gardner-Webb on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Winthrop clung to a narrow lead in the first half before opening up a larger gap in the second. PC cut the lead to five in the closing minutes but could not pull out the victory.
The Blue Hose held Winthrop to 37.5 percent shooting on the afternoon. The Eagles' 51 points mark a new season-low and stand 19 points below the scoring average for the league's top team.
Rebecca Walker (Snellville, Ga.) led PC with 11 points. Fellow freshman Aianna Kelly (Newport News, Va.) chipped in 10 and Keyonna Allen (Forest Park, Ga.) nearly posted a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Schaquilla Nunn paced Winthrop with 13 points and 12 rebounds, both game-highs.
Each team stymied the other for the first three minutes until Winthrop drew first blood. A Walker three-pointer tied the game at 3-3 early on, and the freshman led PC with eight points at the break.
Winthrop jumped out a seven point lead midway through the frame before a Kelly free throw and another Walker trey cut the gap to four.
The visitors took an eight-point lead with 1:57 to go, but PC scored the last four points of the half—two apiece—three from Kelly, one from Allen—and Winthrop led by only four at halftime, 21-17.
The Blue Hose used smothering defense in the opening period to stay close. The home side held the Eagles to 34.8 percent shooting and outrebounded the Eagles, 19-17.
Winthrop jumped out to start the second half by going a 15-6 run, a stretch that included a 10-2 run as the Eagles led by 15 at the 12:03 mark.
The Blue Hose cut into the gap with four points from Allen and two from Sherece Smith (Clemson, S.C.) as the second period passed its halfway point.
A Smith bucket inside made it an 11-point game with 4:54 to play and PC called a timeout. Another Smith jumper pulled the Blue Hose within single digits in the final media timeout, 42-33.
Walker drained a three-pointer in front of the PC bench coming out of the timeout to cut Winthrop's advantage to six. Taylor followed after a Winthrop bucket to make the score 44-39.
On the other end, Dequesha McClanahan lost control of the ball to give possession back to PC with two minutes to go. A wayward shot led to two Winthrop free throws and the Eagles led by seven.
From there, the Eagles held on to take the win by the eventual final score, 51-43.
