Winthrop women head back for revenge in Virginia

Now that the weight of a nine-game losing streak has been lifted, Winthrop travels to Farmville, Va., on Tuesday to face Longwood for the second time this season and a chance to win back-to-back games for the first time this year.

Winthrop (3-15, 2-7) is looking to even the season series with Longwood after dropping a 63-60 decision at home back on Jan. 2. Longwood has lost five straight and enters the game with a 5-14 overall record and a 2-8 conference record.

Winthrop is not the same team that it was just 25 days ago when it lost to Longwood. Two starters from that game – point guard Jimecheia Banks and center Arianne Whitaker – are not available. Banks is out indefinitely with a broken ankle and Whitaker is still suffering from concussion-like symptoms. Whitaker grabbed 14 rebounds and Banks scored a career-high 13 points back on Jan. 2. On the bright side, leading scorer Erica Williams, who missed that game with a bone bruise in her foot, is back and has been playing of late like a preseason All-Big South selection.

Winthrop and Longwood are meeting for the 17th time. The Eagles lead the series 9-7 and have won four of the last five meetings.

Williams is leading the Big South in scoring with her 15.9 average. On Sunday, she moved past Charlotte Wennefors and Tiffany Rodd into 9th place on the Winthrop career scoring list with 1,232 points.

Williams also became the 52nd player in Big South history to score 1,000 points and grab 600 rebounds when she recorded six rebounds against High Point last week. She had a career-high 20 rebounds against Campbell on Sunday to give her 635 rebounds. She recorded her fourth double-double of the season and 26th of her career in the Campbell game.

Redshirt junior guard Aliyah Kilpatrick remains second in the NCAA rankings for steals per game with her 4.00 average. She surpassed 200 steals in her career earlier this month and enters the Longwood game with 213 to rank sixth on the Winthrop career list. She has made 42 steals in her last eight games, including a career-high 10 at Charleston. She needs 87 more steals over the next year-and-a-half to become the all-time Winthrop steals leader.

Kilpatrick is inching her way toward becoming the 19th player in Winthrop women’s basketball history to score 1,000 career points. She now has 911 points after scoring in double figures in five straight games. Over that stretch she is averaging 17 points per game and has raised her season average to 13.2.

Sophomore forward Ronata Rogers is making the most of her increased playing time as she claimed her first career double-double in the High Point game with 10 points to go along with 12 rebounds. She had a career-high 15 rebounds in the first meeting with Longwood.

Winthrop returns home on Saturday, Jan. 30, when the Eagles host Charleston Southern at 1 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader. It will be “Back the Pack” Day at the Winthrop Coliseum as fans are encouraged to bring canned and packaged food items that will be used to provide weekend meals for needy kids in the Rock Hill School District.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Winthrop women head back for revenge in Virginia."