Despite Double-Double From McMillan, Upstate Falls To Coastal
12/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Spartanburg, S.C. – USC Upstate made a late push to get back in the game and despite getting a double-double from Chelsea McMillan, the Spartans fell to Coastal Carolina, 70-62, Thursday night in the Hodge Center.
Upstate dropped its first home game of the season after starting the year with three-straight wins in the newly renovated Hodge Center. The Spartans are now 5-5 on the year and will hit the road to take on A-Sun rival Kennesaw State Monday evening at 5:00 p.m. in Kennesaw, Ga. Coastal Carolina snapped Upstate's two-game winning streak with the win and improved to 6-6 on the year, ending its two-game losing streak along the way.
Upstate played without the services of starting point guard and leading scorer Tee'Ara Copney (Asheville, N.C.). Copney suffered a high ankle sprain during the win over Radford on Dec. 18. She is listed as day-to-day. Upstate was also without the services of Kim Roach (Columbia, S.C.), who is also listed as day-to-day.
"We missed them (Copney and Roach)," said Upstate head coach Tammy George. "We weren't as deep as we normally are. We had a chance to win, but we didn't shoot the ball well. I thought we took some good shots, we just didn't hit them like we normally do. It was an uncharacteristic offensive performance tonight."
Coastal was able to capitalize on Upstate's thinned-out lineup and finished the game shooting 54 percent from the field. The Chanticleers connected on 27-of-50 from the field for the game, hitting 14-of-24 in the second half alone. Upstate struggled from the field, hitting 32 percent for the game and making just 2-of-8 from the three-point arc.
Coastal used a run late in the first half to gain control of the game and withstood a late comeback attempt from Upstate to win the game. When McMillan converted a layup with 5:21 to play in the first half, Upstate trailed by just one point, 17-16. However, Coastal closed out the half by outscoring the Spartans 13-8 to open a six-point lead at the break. The Chanticleers had opened a lead as much as eight points during the spurt.
Coastal opened the second half with a bucket and continued to lead by eight with 17:29 to play when the Chanticleers went on a 9-1 run to open a 43-27 lead with 13:56 to play. It was a run that Upstate would never really get over. Coastal increased the lead to 18 with 12:56 to play and maintained a 17-point advantage with 8:56 remaining.
With the time winding down in the game, Upstate made one last-ditch effort to get back in the game. After falling behind by 17, the Spartans went on a 14-4 run to cut the Coastal lead to seven, 57-50, with 3:12 to play in the game. McMillan had six points during the run.
However, Coastal ran off five-straight points over the next 1:14 to push the lead back to double digits and Upstate could only get as close as eight, which was the final margin, the rest of the way.
"We had a lot of people step up and play some big minutes, but I think we just ran out of gas at the end," said George.
McMillan led the Upstate cause, finishing with her fourth double-double of the season and 26th of her career. She totaled 23 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots and a career-high tying five steals. Kyana Jacobs (Dale City, Va.) was 6-for-6 from the free throw line and finished with a career-high 10 points.
Coastal entered the game with one player, Sydnei Moss, averaging in double figures. Although Moss was held scoreless in the game, Kira Carter, Katie White and Olivia Irick each finished in double figures. Carter led the way with 21 points, while White added 17 points and six blocked shots. Irick finished with 11 points for the Chanticleers.
