Feb. 13, 2010

Final Stats

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - After heading into halftime tied at 30, the USC Upstate women's basketball team turned on the jets, scoring 60 points in the second half for the first time in the D-I era, as the Spartans shot a season-high 55 percent to drive past Belmont in Atlantic Sun Conference action at the Hodge Center on Saturday afternoon. The team placed five players in double figures led by career highs of 20 points from sophomore Lesley Daniel (Collinwood, Tenn./Collinwood) and 17 points from freshman Lauren McRoberts (Carmel, Ind./Carmel).

"Coach George was talking about effort and enthusiasm, so I was just trying to fulfill her game plan," McRoberts said. "Luckilly enough, I made some shots and my teammates got me the ball when I was open, so the credit goes to them."

Upstate (17-8 overall, 11-5 A-Sun) won its 17th game in a season, the first time since 1995 that the team reached the mark, led by an all-around solid shooting performance, as the team hit 28-of-51 (54.9 percent) from the field, 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from 3-point land and 27-of-32 (84.4 percent) from the free throw line.

"It was a great team effort, a great win," Upstate head coach Tammy George said after her Spartans became the first team to beat a Belmont squad inside the Hodge Center. "We almost made it a game when they cut it down to 10 points late, but we made our free throws. I am very proud of our team."

McRoberts added two assists and two steals to her 7-of-10 effort from the field and Daniel posted a career-high seven assists to go with an 11-for-13 effort from the line and a 4-for-6 one on the floor, while being pressed into extra service with senior Courtney Hawkins (Greer, S.C./Greer) on the sidelines for the first time since the first game of her freshman year with a knee injury.

"With Cheslea (McMillan) getting double-teamed, it was nice to see Lauren have a good night," George said. "We know she's capable of it, but it was really good to see her play like that this time of the year."

Junior Chelsea McMillan (East Gadsden, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) posted her seventh double-double in eight games, as she posted 18 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore Kendra Wallace (Hurricane, W.Va./Nitro) added 11 points, canning three 3-pointers, and four assists and senior Koko Richardson (Mary Esther, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) posted 10 points.

Holding a 38-36 lead with 16:34 left, two free throws from Richardson started an 8-0 run that ended with two more free throws from Richardson with 14:28 left. The Bruins never got back within eight points and the Spartans continued to extend the lead, getting it to 14 points at 57-43 before the Bruins fought back thanks to an impressive second half from Amber Rockwell, who scored 15 in the stanza, to cut the lead to eight points with 8:45 left. The Spartans answered, though, as Richardson hit a layup and freshman Tee'Ara Copney (Asheville, N.C./T.C. Roberson) canned a three to bring the lead back to 13 points with 7:21 left. A layup by McRoberts on a give by Copney a minute later extended the lead to 15 points, and despite the best efforts of Rockwell, who scored 12 straight Bruin points down the stretch, Belmont couldn't get closer than nine points the rest of the way. In the final four minutes, Upstate hit 13-of-16 from the line to sow up the win.

Upstate got out to a fast start with a three from Copney starting a 7-0 run that put Upstate up 9-2 just 2:17 into the game, but the Bruins fought back to take a 16-13 lead after back-to-back threes from Cacy Burtnett and Alyssa Visbeen. Upstate answered with six straight points, capped by a McMillan layup, to take a 19-16 lead, but a Rockwell trey tied the game once again with 8:16 left in the first half. From there, the teams struggled through six lead changes and a tie before a jumper from Daniel with six seconds left tied the score at 30 heading into the half.

Despite shooting 54 percent in the half and holding Belmont to 38, the team was hampered by 14 turnovers that led to 15 Bruin points.

"Our offense was creating turnovers and our defense wasn't stopping them," McRoberts said. "We got talked to pretty well in the locker room and we stepped up in the second half."

Upstate started the second half hot as Wallace canned a trey and McMillan hit a layup, giving the Spartans a five-point lead. The Bruins hit two buckets to cut the lead to one before McMillan hit a free throw and Richardson hit a layup that was followed by a layup from Crystal Kelser to make the score 38-36, setting up the Spartans game-changing run.

Belmont was led by Rockwell's 21 points, as the senior hit four treys and added two assists. Burtnett posted 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals and Visbeen added 11 points and three rebounds. Kristin Bunch posted six points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, and Haley Nelson, who entered the game the A-Sun's top rebounder, posted seven points, seven boards and four blocks.

McMillan retook the conference lead in rebounding thanks to her 14 boards, as she averages 10.8 rebounds per game. Copney posted eight points, hitting two treys, and four assists and junior Shadae Thompson (Greenville, S.C./Anderson University) posted six points.

The Spartans hit the road next weekend for the last A-Sun series of the season, as it heads to fourth-place Campbell, looking to add to its two-game cushion on third place, on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tilt before heading to ETSU for the final road game of the season on Monday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

Notes:
• The Spartans are 5-7 all-time on Feb. 13.

• Junior Chelsea McMillan is currently seventh in school history with 269 rebounds this season.

• Upstate's 145 3-pointers this season are fourth in school history, making the top four 3-point shooting teams in school history all ones in the Coach Tammy George era.