Former Winthrop Eagle Schaquilla Nunn goes No. 25 in WNBA draft
Former Winthrop women's basketball player Schaquilla Nunn, a 6-3 forward from Fayetteville, Ga., was drafted Thursday by the San Antonio Stars as the 25th overall pick of the 2017 WNBA Draft.
Nunn is the first Winthrop player to be drafted by a WNBA team. She played three years for the Eagles and became the program's all-time rebounding leader with 910 and blocked shots with 279. She averaged a double-double in her 88-game Winthrop career with 11.2 points and 10.3 rebounds. She missed her senior season with a broken foot and graduated in May of 2016. Rather than return to Winthrop for her final year of eligibility, Nunn transferred to Tennessee for the 2016-17 season. In her one season as a Lady Vol, Nunn played in all 32 games, including five starts, and was a key contributor off the bench.
She had her best game this past season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Dayton as she recorded a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Her career scoring and rebounding highs occurred in a Winthrop uniform with 39 points against Gallaudet (Nov. 15, 2014) and 20 rebounds against Campbell (Jan. 27, 2015).
During her Winthrop career, she was voted the 2013 Big South Conference Freshman of the Year and was an All-Big South First Team selection and the Big South's Defensive Player of the Year in 2015.
Softball opens Charleston Southern series with 6-3 win
Leah Young’s 20th career home run helped power the Eagles to a 6-3 win over Charleston Southern in the Friday opening game of the series at the CSU Softball Complex.
Winthrop snaps its losing streak at six games and improves to 21-23 overall and 7-6 in the Big South. Charleston Southern falls to 20-28 overall and 5-8 in the league. The two teams will be back in action at 1 p.m. Saturday in a doubleheader.
After the Eagles took a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth, Young stepped in and hammered a two-run shot over the center field fence. Young becomes just the 6th player in program history to hit 20 or more home runs in a career.
“We decided beforehand to split the pitchers and it worked out really well for us,” said Winthrop co-head coach Mark Cooke. “Keleigh (Romine) and Kiley (Majette) did a great job for us. In the sixth inning to only allow one run with runners in scoring position and a good hitter up was big for us. We made some nice swings and did the things we had to do in order to win today.”
Winthrop grabbed a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth as Ansley Gilreath came through with an RBI double with two outs and then scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Before Young came to the plate in the fifth, Shayna Covington led off the inning with a single and came around to score on a throwing error. Then Morgan Lowers hit a grounder to second that was misplayed as Ashley Westbrooks scored for a 4-2 lead. Then Young took the first pitch to center for the home run.
After the Eagles grabbed a 2-1 lead, the Buccaneers immediately tied it in the bottom half of the fourth. In the sixth inning the Bucs put runners at second and third after a single by Amanda Matsumoto and a double from Stevi Johnson. That brought up Jade Gandara, the league’s leader in home runs and RBI, but Majette was able to get her to fly out to center that scored Matsumoto from third. Then Majette struck out Brittany McPherson to end the inning and then worked a 1-2-3 seventh for the win.
Majette improves to 12-12 on the year after tossing 4.1 innings of relief allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Romine threw 2.2 innings and allowed one run on three hits.
Paige Haley and Lowers each finished with two hits on the day as Lowers has now hit safely in three games. Covington reached base for the sixth consecutive game.
This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 8:34 PM with the headline "Former Winthrop Eagle Schaquilla Nunn goes No. 25 in WNBA draft."