Winthrop women’s basketball starting to come together in heart of conference play
Winthrop women’s 61-50 win against Gardner-Webb over the weekend wasn’t as easy as the score suggests.
The Eagles found themselves down big early, trailing 20-10 early in the first half.
Even when Winthrop went on a 15-5 run to tie the game at 25, Gardner-Webb rattled off a 7-0 run of its own to head into halftime leading 32-25.
However, the second half belonged fully to the Eagles, outscoring Gardner-Webb 36-18 to pull away with the team’s first double-digit conference win of the season.
It was Winthrop’s (9-10, 3-3) second-straight conference win. The Eagles beat UNC Asheville 70-64 in overtime on Jan. 17.
In all three of Winthrop’s conference wins, the Eagles were trailing as some point in the second half.
“We’re starting to get some identity and respected in the league when people say that our team plays hard,” head coach Semeka Randall Lay said. “I think that’s what helped us this afternoon is the fact that we didn’t stop. We kept competing and willed our way back into it. There was a stretch late in the game where we couldn’t make any baskets, but we did get stops defensively, so I’m really proud of our basketball team for that.”
Heading into the season, Randall Lay said the biggest difference between last year and this year is simply the number of players available to play.
All season last year, Winthrop only had eight players appear in games and played with a conference-minimum seven for a lot of the season. But Saturday against Gardner-Webb they played 10.
So when starting center Marissa Gasaway got into foul trouble, the Eagles were able to keep a steady presence inside by rotating in freshmen Claudia Clement and Tiana Spann and junior Prunelle Mungo to spell Gasaway.
Senior Nyah Stallings came off the bench and tied a team-high with 13 points.
Randall Lay said that one of the keys to success for her team is that everyone has accepted their roles and are developing into them. For a team with 11 newcomers on the roster, it’s a very important ingredient for success.
And it’s been paying dividends.
“Sometimes, when you have a lot of new players, they want everything right away,” Randall Lay said. “And I only got five spots out there for starters. There was a core group that I trust a lot that probably saw more minutes, but when injuries happen or illness come, I always told the players to stay ready. So kudos to those players and contributed in all sorts of ways, but I’m still challenging them because there’s more that we can give and we can get out of this season.”
Winthrop will next play at home against Charleston Southern as the Eagles look to win consecutive home conference games for the first time since 2022.
The game will tip off at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.