Winthrop women’s hoops standout breaks foot, will redshirt

Winthrop head women’s basketball coach Kevin Cook announced Monday night during his weekly coach’s show that senior center Schaquilla Nunn, a preseason First Team All-Big South Conference selection, has suffered a broken foot and plans to seek a medical redshirt for 2015-16.

Cook said the 6-foot-3 Nunn looked at her options about possibly returning to action in January or redshirting and coming back in 2016-17.

“She said to me, ‘Coach Cook I just don’t want to have the kind of senior year where I may be able to play for a couple of games and then be out for a couple of games. I want it to heal proper and I will give it a shot next year.’”

Nunn averaged a double-double as a junior with 13.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. She was also one of the nation’s leading shot blockers, ranking ninth with 3.6 blocks per game. Her rebound average also placed her 15th nationally.

Nunn became Winthrop’s all-time rebound and shot block leader last year and is on the verge of becoming the first player in Winthrop basketball history (male or female) to score more than 1,000 points and pull down more than 1,000 rebounds. She now has 982 points and 910 rebounds.

Without Nunn, the Eagles will look to 6-foot-2 freshman Arianne Whitaker from Cincinnati, Ohio to step into the center role.

The loss of Nunn comes at an especially bad time as the Eagles open the season this weekend with a brutal road schedule that includes 17th ranked Oklahoma on Friday (8 p.m.) and 14th ranked Duke on Sunday (6 p.m.). Following those two games Winthrop will travel to Akron, Ohio where the Eagles will face the 19th ranked mid-major Zips on Nov. 20 (10:30 a.m.) and seventh ranked Ohio on Nov. 21 (1 p.m.). On Dec. 13 Winthrop will travel to Columbia to face the preseason No. 2 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Winthrop women’s hoops standout breaks foot, will redshirt."