Cold shooting night freezes streak for Lady Eagles
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 3:44PM By David Thackham
thackhamd@mytjnow.com
Going into halftime, Winthrop’s Lady Eagles seemed destined to stretch their five-game winning streak farther into the new year as they accrued a 30-20 lead against the Gardner Webb Bulldogs.
However, in a game that was originally postponed due to snow, the Eagles went frigid on the floor in the final nine minutes, only scoring two points, which allowed a scrappy Bulldogs team to regain the lead and steal a vital conference win, 45-42.
The 188 home fans who braved the elements to watch the game witnessed a tussle between two squads with very contrasting styles. While the Bulldogs preferred to penetrate the arc and rain down jumpers (63 field goal attempts), Winthrop was content to work with three point shooting (Lacey Lyons 4-6 from 3 points) and create counterattacks on any turnovers that fell their way (11 points off of turnovers).
Turnovers were the story of the first half as the Eagles began to build their lead in the first 14 minutes. Gardner Webb’s Monique Hudson fumbled the ball in the paint, allowing Winthrop’s Dequesha McClanahan an open lane to seize her side’s first definitive lead, 21-16.
The four-time Big South freshman of the week led her team in most minutes on the court, but finished with just eight points.
The points remained elusive for the Bulldogs when Catrina Green and Brianna Dillard both missed wide-open shots off the bench with 2:48 left.
Winthrop’s Lyons drained a three on the next possession before converting two out of three late free throws to give Winthrop their ten-point margin and confidence heading into the last period.
The Eagles’ opportunistic offense was proving effective as they scored nine points off of turnovers and five from second-chance looks.
However, complacency crept into the Winthrop team as the Bulldogs flew out of the traps in the early second half, with a 6-0 run in just over two minutes. Gardner Webb was much more clinical from the floor, improving their field goal shooting by 7.6 percent.
Conversely, Winthrop’s starting five could not get out of their early rut. Ashley Cox, Mary Hathaway and McClanahan did not score a single point in the half. The Eagles’ bench provided no solace either, scoring just two points in the entire contest.
A layup by TaQuoia Hammick extended the Winthrop lead back to eight with 12:51 left, but the Eagles found no more success on the offensive front. Gardner Webb’s center Sandra Vaitkute (six points in second half) was ruthless in the paint before a simple transition layup by Sierra Little finally wrestled the lead away from the garnet and gold, 42-43.
Winthrop, which held the lead for over 25 minutes, suddenly found itself with 1:57 to gain it back.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, dual missed jumpers by McClanahan combined with a late turnover by Kaitlyn Rubino with four seconds on the clock meant Winthrop’s streak had ended, in demoralizing fashion.
The loss dropped the Eagles to 7-8 before a win over Radford on Jan. 15 boosted them back to .500. The Lady Eagles will be facing Presbyterian College at home on Monday before travelling to UNC Asheville on Jan. 22.
Winthrop is currently 2-1 in the Big South Conference, a feat that has not been achieved since 2007.
