Winthrop women hope to snap cold streak in Lynchburg
Winthrop’s women travel to Lynchburg, Va., to face Liberty at the Vines Center on Saturday, a place where the Eagles have not won since January 27, 1996, a stretch of 23 straight losses. Coach Kevin Cook’s team, depleted by injuries, will also look to snap a seven-game losing streak, its longest since the 2004-05 season.
Earlier in the season, the matchup was one that fans marked on their calendars as the Flames were picked to capture the Big South title and the Eagles were picked second. That was before Winthrop lost preseason All-Big South First Team selection Schaquilla Nunn for the season with a broken foot, and now Liberty is without preseason Big South Player of the Year Ashley Rininger, who is expected to miss her sixth game on Saturday following knee surgery. Both players were considered the top post players in the conference.
The long Big South win for Winthrop (2-13, 1-5) this season came on Dec. 5, 2015 against Gardner-Webb, two days after the Runnin’ Bulldogs handed Liberty (7-8, 4-2) one of its two conference losses.
Winthrop has been ravaged by injuries and other setbacks this season. In addition to Nunn’s loss, the Eagles lost starting point guard Jimecheia Banks for the season when she suffered a broken ankle at Radford on Jan. 9. Freshman center Arianne Whitaker, who stepped into Nunn’s spot, has missed the last two games because of a concussion and her return to action is nknown. Winthrop was also without its leading scorer Erica Williams for two games against UNC Asheville and Longwood because of a bone bruise in her left foot, but she has played the last two games and has led the Eagles with 20 and 17 points, respectively, against Radford and PC.
Winthrop and Liberty are meeting for the 58th time. The Flames own a commanding 47-10 lead in the series, but Winthrop has won two of the last three meetings. During Coach Kevin Cook’s tenure, Winthrop is 2-5 in the series.
Williams, who became the 18th player in Winthrop women’s history to reach 1,000 career points with her 17-point effort at Duke on Nov. 15, has moved into 11th place on the Winthrop career scoring list with 1,179 points. She needs 42 more points to crack the top 10. She is also nearing 600 career rebounds and needs six more to reach that milestone.
Redshirt junior guard Aliyah Kilpatrick has also reached a career milestone. She surpassed 200 steals in her career with four against PC and enters today’s game with 202 to rank seventh on the Winthrop career list. She comes into the game ranked third in the nation and first in the conference in total steals (57) and steals per game (4.07). She has made 31steals in her last fi ve games, including a career high 10 at Charleston. She needs 98 more steals over the next year-and-a-half to become the all-time Winthrop steals leader.
Even though she has missed the last two games because of a concussion, the 6-2 Whitaker still leads the Big South and is ranked 31st nationally in blocks per game with a 2.62 average. She had a career-high 8 blocked shots in her last game against Longwood.
Following Saturday’s game at Liberty, Winthrop will return home on Tuesday, Jan. 19, to face High Point at 7 p.m.
This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 8:02 PM with the headline "Winthrop women hope to snap cold streak in Lynchburg."