Upstate Steals One From Presbyterian College, 71-52
12/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Shooting just 40 percent for the game, the USC Upstate women's basketball team had to figuratively steal the game away from Presbyterian College and that's exactly what it did. Using a Division I-era record 17 steals, Upstate forced 30 Presbyterian turnovers leading to 22 points and helping lift Upstate to a 71-52 non-conference win at the G.B. Hodge Center on Wednesday afternoon.
The Spartans (6-5 overall) used a balanced scoring attack that featured 45 of its points coming off the bench, led by sophomore Lesley Daniel (Collinwood, Tenn./Collinwood), who led the team with 12 points, six assists and four steals in the game. Junior Sharniece Wadelington (Greenville, S.C./UNC Greensboro) added 11 points, three rebounds and two steals and sophomore Kendra Wallace (Hurricane, W.Va./Nitro) hit three 3-pointers to finish with nine points and three rebounds. Junior Chelsea McMillan (East Gadsden, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) added eight points, 12 rebounds and a career-high tying four blocks. Senior Koko Richardson (Mary Esther, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) added three points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Junior Shadae Thompson (Greenville, S.C./Anderson University) added a career-high eight points, an assist and a steal.
"We've been working hard," Daniel, who tied a career high with six assists, said. "These past three days in practice, Coach George has been talking about how we need to get back to basics and make the extra pass and that helped us a lot (Wednesday)."
Upstate's defense helped subdue PC (1-10 overall) beginning midway through the first half. PC took a 9-5 lead with 13:28 left in the first half, but a 3-pointer from Wallace helped start a run of 14 straight Upstate points that occupied the next eight minutes. During the run, Upstate forced 11 PC turnovers and seven fouls, helping them take a 19-9.
"I thought our defense was good," Upstate head coach Tammy George said. "We struggled offensively with their zone but our defense created some turnovers and that got us some easy layups."
The Blue Hose broke the run with a layup from Lea Smith, but a 3-pointer by Wadelington helped PC start another run, finishing the half on a 15-6 run to take a 34-17 lead into the locker room.
"Sharniece had an outstanding game," George said. "She had 10 at halftime and she came out and sparked us defensively. She got out, made some layups and got to the free throw line and made it. We needed a win like this. We needed a good team win where everybody got some minutes and everybody got back in the game mode after the break."
In the second half, Upstate never let PC back within 14 points, which the Blue Hose did for the last time with 12:53 left after a jumper by Amanda Mills from the right baseline. Upstate responded with three straight points, including the first of the game on a layup by McMillan for her 500th career point. McMillan added two traditional 3-point plays after that, with the second giving Upstate a 19-point lead with 9:25 left. Wallace added the last of her three 3-pointers to expand the lead to 24 with 3:38 left and freshman Christine Nyobe (Bertoua, Cameroon/The Miller School (Va.)) added a free throw with 2:25 left to give Upstate its largest lead of the game at 68-43. Presbyterian closed the gap to the final 19 points with a 9-3 run to close the game.
"Coming off Christmas break, we've been working hard on getting our intensity and effort up and I think that's what won us the game," McMillan said. "We played good defense and that's what created our offense."
PC was led by 11 points each from Dria David and Amanda Mills. David added seven rebounds and the team's leading scorer, Mariah Pietrowski, added 11 rebounds, but just four points. Devin Fothergill posted a team-high three steals and Lea Smith posted eight points and five boards.
Nyobe chipped in for three points, two rebounds and a block and junior Kim Pitman (Plumtree, N.C./Avery) added four points and two rebounds.
The Spartans get back to the A-Sun slate by hosting Campbell at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 2 and ETSU at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 4.
Notes:
- The Spartans are 4-1 all-time on Dec. 30.
- Upstate is 22-11 (.667) all-time against Big South Conference opponents at the Hodge Center and 38-30 all-time.
- Upstate set a D-I era record by posting a 6-3 non-conference record in 2009-10 ... The Spartans have posted back-to-back winning records in non-conference play, posting a 5-4 record against non-A-Sun opponents in 2008-09.
- Junior Chelsea McMillan became the 33rd player in school history to reach 500 career points with her first bucket of the game ... She has 506 career points.
- Sophomore Kendra Wallace hit three 3-pointers in the game to give her 96 in her career, passing Stephanie Dacus (1991-96) for sixth in school history.
- Senior Courtney Hawkins became the fifth player in school history to reach 300 career made free throws with her first of three made shots from the charity stripe.
