Winthrop Women Smother Charleston Southern With Defense In 77-40 Win
ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop’s women used a smothering defense and converted 25 of 28 free throws to defeat visiting Charleston Southern 77-40 for its fourth straight win in Big South Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.
The victory improves Winthrop to 8-4 in league play and 12-9 overall while CSU remains winless at 0-11 in conference play and drops to 4-16 overall.
The Eagles defense limited the Lady Bucs to just 16 percent shooting in the first half on 5 of 32 field goal attempts and led 34-12 at intermission. Winthrop junior center Schaquilla Nunn, who came into the game as the nation’s 7th ranked shot blocker, led the defensive effort with six first half blocks as she made it nearly impossible for CSU to score in the paint.
Winthrop went 9 of 10 from the free throw line in the first half and 16 of 18 in the second half as the Eagles finished the day connecting on 25 of 28 charity tosses.
Charleston Southern did manage to connect on its first three shots of the second half to trail by 18, but following a timeout by Winthrop, the Eagles turned up the heat again and soared out to a 31-point lead at 53-22 with 11 minutes, 39 seconds left in the game. Erica Williams, who finished with a season-high 25 points, to over the game in the second half by scoring 12 of Winthrop’s first 19 points in the final period.
Williams finished the day by making 9 of 14 field goals and 7 of 8 free throws while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists. Freshman center Ezinne Mbamalu was the only other Eagle to score in double figures as she had 10 and was a perfect 8 of 8 from the free throw line. Tatum Jarvis and Rochelle Brophy scored 10 points each for CSU.
“Erica played 28 tremendous minutes. Her decision making has been outstanding and like all the great players, she is understanding how to get everybody involved,” said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook. “She’s one of our best passers. She gets just as excited about an assist as a basket and that is a credit to her.”
“I wasn’t worried about myself. I was just trying to get everyone involved and winning the game,” said Williams, who ranks second in conference in scoring average. “It started on the defensive end and its our defense that turns our offense on. Coach always tells us we know how to score. We just have to get it done on the defensive end.”
Ten Winthrop players got into the scoring column as 11 players played 14 or more minutes with no one playing more than 28 in the game.
“I knew coming into the season that our depth was going to be pretty good,” said Cook. “But now you are starting to see the young players play more relaxed. I though Naima (Jackson) started the game very well and hit her first three shots and guarded. I thought Jimecheia Banks played one of her best games. She played almost half of the game and she really got us into our offense. ”
“This was a superb team victory,” said Cook. “They worked together, played together and rebounded the ball, but most importantly we guarded. We really, really defended, especially in the first half. We came out a bit sluggish in the second half, but got it turned around. I believe if we rebound like this and shoot our free throws like this the rest of the way, we will be in good shape.”
Winthrop owned the boards as it outrebounded CSU 53-26. Nunn, who leads the Big South and ranks 15th in the nation, had a game-high 12 rebounds to improve on her 11.2 season average.
On the offensive end, Winthrop finished the game shooting 47 percent on 25 of 53 to go along with the 89 percent effort from the free throw line. The defense ended the game holding CSU to 26 percent (16 of 62) and the Lady Bucs connected on just 1 of 16 three-point shots for 6 percent.
Winthrop will have a short turnaround as they play in Buies Creek, NC at 7 p.m. on Monday against Campbell, a team the Eagles defeated 61-59 at home back on Dec. 2.