Starling's Career-High 22 Points Lifts Upstate Past Converse, 75-36
11/10/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game Highlights
Spartanburg, S.C. – Brittany Starling scored a career-high 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds as USC Upstate defeated the Converse College Valkyries 75-36 in its home opener Sunday afternoon.
Upstate improves to 2-0 for the first time since the 2009-10 season, while the Valkyries fall to 0-1. The 39-point margin of victory is the largest since defeating St. Andrews 83-26 in last season's home opener.
Starling finished the game 10-of-12 shooting from the floor and was one of three Spartans to score in double-figures. Sharmayne Edwards added 11 points to the effort while Alex Stanford contributed 10. Shelby Hicks grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds to go with six points.
The Spartans opened the first half by scoring the first eight points and led 8-0 on Starling's layup at the 17:09 mark. Converse would score its first basket with 16:40 remaining, but would then watch Upstate go on a 17-5 run over the next 7:14 to lead 25-7 on Paris Johnson's layup. The Spartans increased their lead to 20 points, 27-7, following a layup by Stanford.
Upstate held a 20-point advantage for a majority of the final 7:21 as the Valkyries were held under 10 points as a team until the 5:03 mark on two Jenna White free-throws. A three-pointer by Edwards gave the Spartans a 41-16 lead and later made it a 26-point contest with just over one minute remaining before intermission. Stanford gave Upstate its largest lead of the half, 46-18, on her layup with 30 seconds left. The Spartans led at halftime 46-19.
Starling posted 18 of her 22 points in the first half after playing just 10 minutes. Upstate's defense held Converse to just five field goals in the opening stanza. The Spartans were 17-of-38 for a 44.7% clip.
Upstate continued its defensive dominance in the second half holding the Valkryies to four field goals and 17 points. Starling gave the Spartans their first field goal of the second half on her jumper with 18:43 left, and then extended their lead to 54-24 six minutes later on another jumper. Upstate led by 30 or more points the remainder of the half. Johnson made it 71-33 in favor of the Spartans with 1:56 remaining, and Lauren Bogle gave Upstate its largest lead of the game at 39 points on her jumper. That would be the final basket of the game as the Spartans earned the 75-36 victory.
The Upstate offense concluded the afternoon shooting 40.3% overall while holding Converse to 9-of-50 (18.0%) in the contest. The Spartans controlled every offensive category outscoring the Valkyries 38-10 in the paint and 37-12 in points from the bench. Upstate out-rebounded Converse 54-38 that led to 21 second-chance points, and forced 21 turnovers for 21 more points.
Erin Horne had a team-high eight points off the bench for the Valkyries and Margo Dill added 11 rebounds.
The Spartans return to action Wednesday, Nov. 13 when they travel to face the High Point Panthers at 7 p.m.
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