Presbyterian tops injury-hit Eagle women
Things keep getting tougher for a Winthrop women’s basketball team with a bench that gets shorter by the game.
The Eagles (2-13, 1-5 Big South) started Tuesday night’s game, a 59-48 loss to Presbyterian at Winthrop Coliseum, with seven scholarship players in uniform. And they finished it with six when junior guard Aliyah Kilpatrick left the game with leg cramps early in the fourth quarter.
“Dealing with injuries is not easy,” said Winthrop coach Kevin Cook, whose team lost sophomore guard Jimechia Banks for the season over the weekend when she shattered an ankle in a loss at Radford. Freshman center Arianne Whitaker also sat out last night’s game after suffering a concussion Saturday.
“This team has to pull itself up by its own bootstraps,” Cook said. “We’re playing with heart, but just like in life you have to battle through adversity sometimes.”
Junior guard Erica Williams led the Eagles, who lost for the seventh straight game, with 17 points and Kilpatrick added 14 in just over three quarters of play. But it wasn’t enough to keep the Blue Hose (9-7, 5-2) from breaking a six-game losing streak to the Winthrop.
Allie Wagner scored 11 points and Rebecca Walker and Janie Miles added 10 each for Presbyterian, which led 18-9 after one quarter and 28-18 at halftime.
Turning point
Winthrop trimmed a 41-31 PC lead at the end of the third quarter to 41-36 by scoring the first five points of the fourth quarter, on a basket by Kilpatrick and a three-point play by Williams. But the Blue Hose responded with three three-pointers over the next two minutes to pull away.
Quote
“We needed stops and our best defensive player (Kilpatrick) was out of the game. We’re not a two-win team.” – Winthrop coach Kevin Cook.
Star Contributions
Williams scored six of her 17 points in the final quarter and led the Eagles in assists with three.
Ezinne Mbamalu led Winthrop with nine rebounds, six in the first half.
PC’s Walker led all rebounders with 12, eight of them in the first half.
On Deck
The Eagles play at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Liberty. The next home game is at 7 p.m. Jan. 19 against High Point.
“We’ve got to continue to fight,” Cook said. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.”
PRESBYTERIAN 59, WINTHROP 48
PRESBYTERIAN (9-7, 5-2)
Rebecca Walker 4-9 2-6 10, Allie Wagner 4-9 2-2 11, Cortney Story 2-5 0-0 5, Alanna Kelly 3-8 2-3 9, Janie Miles 3-8 3-5 10, Yakima Clifton 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Petty 2-7 0-0 6, Kaycie Reffner 1- 3 0-0 3, Salina Virola 1-1 3-4 5. TOTALS 20-51 12-20 59.
WINTHROP (2-13, 1-5)
Ronata Rogers 1-4 0-0 2, Ezinne Mbamalu 2-4 3-3 7, Aliyah Kilpatrick 6-17 0-0 14, Naima Jackson 2-10 0-0 4, Erica Williams 7-16 2-2 17, Nuba Jackson 2-8 0-0 4. CiiCii Buford 0-1 0-0 0, Kayla Atkins 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS 20-61 5-5 48.
Presbyterian | 18 | 10 | 13 | 18 | - | 59 |
Winthrop | 9 | 9 | 13 | 17 | - | 48 |
Three-point goals: Presbyterian 7-24 (Petty 2-7), Winthrop 3-12 (Kilpatrick 2-6). Fouled out – None. Rebounds: Presbyterian 39 (Wagner 12), Winthrop 34 (Mbamalu 9). Assists — Presbyterian 16 (Storey 6), Winthrop 5 (Williams 3). Total fouls — Presbyterian 12, Winthrop 19. Technical fouls — None.
A-275
This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Presbyterian tops injury-hit Eagle women."