Winthrop women’s basketball opens season with tough weekend
Winthrop’s women open their 2015-16 basketball schedule this weekend with road games at No. 17 Oklahoma on Friday at 8 p.m. and against No. 14 Duke on Sunday at 6 p.m.
Winthrop and Oklahoma are meeting for the first time. The Eagles have played one game against a Big 12 Conference school and that came back on March 26, 1971 when Winthrop defeated Kansas 55-36 in an AIAW tournament qualifier.
Winthrop is coached by Kevin Cook, who is entering his fourth year at Winthrop and his ninth year overall as a collegiate head coach. He begins the season with a 62-34 record at Winthrop and is 108-90 overall. Oklahoma is coached by Sherri Cole who is one of six members to be selected for induction into the 2016 class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She is beginning her 20th season at OU and has built a 420-206 record while taking the Sooners to 16 straight NCAA tournaments.
Winthrop is coming off a 17-13 record while Oklahoma went 21-12 and finished second in the Big 12 before advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Winthrop suffered a major setback last week when 6-foot-3 preseason All-Big South center Schaquilla Nunn suffered a broken foot that will sideline her for the season.
With Nunn in the lineup, the Eagles would have returned 75 percent of their scoring and rebounding from last season, but without her those figures drop to 53 percent of the scoring and 51 percent of the rebounding.
Oklahoma on the other hand is an experienced team with four starters and 11 letterwinners returning. The Sooners return 87 percent of their scoring and 85 percent of their rebounds.
Winthrop will be led by 5-foot-10 junior forward Erica Williams and 5-foot-8 junior guard Aliyah Kilpatrick.
Williams is the team’s top returning scorer with her 16.4 average that ranked her second in the Big South last year. She is now the team’s top returning rebounder as well with her 8.7 average. Kilpatrick, who handled the point guard duties last year, also averaged in double figures with 12.1 points per game.
Oklahoma is led by 5-foot-11 junior guard Peyton Little who averaged 12.6 points and 6-foot-3 senior center Kaylon Williams who averaged 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds in only 23.3 minutes per game. The Sooners have added 6-foot-4 freshman forward Ijeoma Odimgbe, who was ranked the No. 18 forward in the nation last year by ESPN HoopGurlz.
Winthrop and Duke are meeting for just the second time. The first meeting came two years ago at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the first round of the 2014 NCAA tournament. Duke claimed an 87-45 win. This year’s game will be Winthrop’s 44th against current members of the ACC. The Eagles are 5-38 which includes a 1-1 record against Louisville and a 1-0 record vs. Florida State before those schools became ACC members.
Like Winthrop, Duke will open its season on Friday night at home against Penn. Duke returns seven players from last year’s 23-11 team which went 17-1 at home. The Blue Devils have added six freshmen to a roster that includes six players that stand 6-3 or above. Winthrop will be outsized at every position.
Leading Duke will be 6-6 sophomore Azura Stevens, the team’s leading returning scorer who averaged 14.1 points to go along with 8.2 rebounds per game. Rebecca Greenwell, a 6-1 redshirt sophomore guard gives Duke outside firepower as she connected on 72 of 202 three-point field goals last year while averaging 14.0 points.
Duke is led by veteran coach Joanne P. McCallie, who has a career record of 540-202 in 23 years, including a 225-53 mark in eight years at Duke. She is the only coach in the nation to have been voted Coach of the Year in four different conferences.
Both games will be broadcast on 104.1 FM with pregame shows beginning 30 minutes prior to tipoff.
This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Winthrop women’s basketball opens season with tough weekend."