Spartanburg, S.C. – USC Upstate held Belmont to 11 points in the first half and put together its best defensive effort of the season to take a dominating, 69-51, victory over the Bruins Saturday evening in A-Sun women's basketball action in the Hodge Center.

Upstate improved to 9-8 overall and 5-3 in the A-Sun with the win, snapping a three-game league losing streak. The Spartans will battle Lipscomb Monday night at 7:00 in a game televised regionally on CSS as part of the A-Sun's Women's Game of the Week. It marks the first women's basketball game ever to be televised from the Hodge Center. Belmont fell to 7-11 overall and 4-5 in the league with the loss and will travel to Johnson City, Tenn., to battle ETSU Monday night.

Belmont struggled against Upstate's defense throughout the game. The Bruins were just 4-of-20 from the field in the first half alone, enduring two scoring droughts of 6:40 and 7:22. Upstate's defense and Belmont's inability to make the shots they were given allowed the Spartans to vault out to a huge lead in the first half and they were never really threatened the rest of the way. The 11 points are the fewest allowed by Upstate in its Division I era and the fewest in at least 10 years.

"I think we played a complete game tonight," said Upstate head coach Tammy George. "Our defense set the tone in the first half. We took care of the basketball and forced them into turnovers. We scored 16 points off of their turnovers and they didn't score any off ours. It was a total defensive effort in the first half."

Belmont was actually the team that started off quickly in the game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead at the 18:46 mark of the half. George called a timeout to regroup and Upstate came out with an intense defensive effort. By the time Belmont would crack the scoreboard again, the Spartans erased the deficit and opened a 6-5 lead.

Upstate could do much with the first scoring drought, but made Belmont's second one count. Molly Ernst sank a three-pointer to put the Bruins back on top, 8-6, with 12:06 to play in the half. The Bruins would go scoreless until the 4:43 mark. During that stretch, Upstate went on a 13-0 run to open a 19-8 lead.

After Alyssa Visbeen converted 1-of-2 free throws to end the run, Upstate countered by scoring the next five points to push the lead to 15 and the Spartans went into the locker room with a 29-11 advantage at the half. Tee'Ara Copney (Asheville, N.C.) had 10 points to lead the Spartans in the opening period.

Upstate left little doubt in the second half of play. Copney started the scoring with a three-pointer to give the Spartans a 21-point lead and Belmont had a hard time cracking the lead despite shooting better from the field. Upstate increased the lead to as many as 24 points and never allowed the advantage to dip below 17 before settling for the 18-point victory.

While Upstate turned in a dominant defensive performance, the Spartans didn't fare any better than Belmont shooting the ball. Upstate finished the game shooting 33 percent from the field and made just 3-of-18 (17 percent) from the three-point arc. Belmont finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field and 25 percent from the arc.

Upstate' ability to take advantage defensively and get to the free throw line on offense was key. The Spartans forced Belmont into 23 turnovers and held a 23-1 advantage in points off turnovers in the game. They also committed a season-low 14 turnovers in the game. Upstate also got to the free throw line 30 times and converted 26. Belmont was 8-of-14 from the charity stripe.

"Anytime you can get to the free throw line that many times and shoot that well, it's outstanding as a team," said George. "It was just a great team win for us. Cutting down on turnovers has been something we have concentrated on and we did well tonight. Hopefully, as we go down the stretch we can take care of the basketball. If we do that, I think we will be fine."

Copney led all scorers with 23 points, getting her within eight of reaching 600 in her career. She also totaled seven rebounds and three steals. Kim Roach (Columbia, S.C.) came off the bench with 13 points and career highs with eight rebounds and three steals. Chelsea McMillan (East Gadsden, Fla.), who was hounded down low all night, finished with nine points, six rebounds and three steals.

Haley Nelson led the Belmont attack with 19 points and seven rebounds. No other Bruin had more than six points in the game. The 51 points were the lowest Upstate has allowed this season and the lowest since holding North Greenville to 47 points in the season opener last year.