College of Charleston handles Winthrop women, 95-64

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.

The story of Winthrop’s 95-64 women’s basketball loss to College of Charleston started and ended there on Wednesday night at Winthrop Coliseum.

“At one time out I had to remind us to throw it to the team in white,” Eagles coach Kevin Cook said after his team turned the ball over 30 times. “We played hard for just about five minutes. But the buck stops here and that’s my responsibility.”

Senior forward Erica Williams scored a game-high 28 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, one of the few highlights for Winthrop (1-2) in a game it trailed from start to finish.

Breanna Bolden, a senior forward, led College of Charleston (1-1) with 22 points, one of four players in double figures.

After leading by as many as 12 points, the Cougars held a 25-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Eagles trimmed that advantage to 32-27 in the first four minutes of the second quarter before College of Charleston went on a 14-2 run.

Williams broke it up with a spinning layup with 2:12 left in the half for a 44-31 score but the Eagles scored only one more point before the break and trailed 49-32 at the half.

Turning Point

College of Charleston took control early, leading by double digits halfway through the first quarter, and the Eagles never got much closer. But it really got out of hand in the third quarter, which ended with the Cougars up 82-49. College of Charleston’s largest lead was 37 points in the final quarter.

Critical

The Eagles’ turnovers allowed the visitors to take care of business early and often. College of Charleston turned them into 34 points, more than a third of their total.

College of Charleston shot well from behind the three-point arc, hitting 10-of-21 attempts. And the Cougars spread it around, with four players hitting two or more threes.

Star contributors

Erica Williams, Winthrop: Had a solid game on a bad night for her team. Hit 10-of-18 from the field and added four steals and three assists to her double-double.

Tanisha Brown, College of Charleston: Scored 13 of her 20 points in the first half and got a double-double with 10 rebounds.

Breanna Bolden, College of Charleston: Had a big defensive night to go with her 8-for-12 shooting on the offensive end. Finished with six steals.

On deck

The Eagles’ next game is at 2 p.m. Sunday against East Tennessee State in Johnson City, Tenn. It’s the first of four straight away games, including three in the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands Nov. 24-26.

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 9:17 PM with the headline "College of Charleston handles Winthrop women, 95-64."