Game Highlights

Spartanburg, S.C. – Shelby Hicks' jumper with less than one second remaining capped off a second-half USC Upstate rally en route to a 58-57 victory Tuesday evening over the South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs at the Hodge Center.

The Spartans even their record at 3-3 overall while the Lady Bulldogs fall to 0-2 on the season.

Brittany Starling led all Upstate scorers with her first double-double of the season on 12 points and 13 rebounds. Brittany Clency provided a spark off the bench in the second half as she finished with 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

The basket by Hicks came after the Spartans had several chances in the final 30 seconds to put in the go-ahead field goal. Hicks recovered the rebound off Clency's missed jumper and took a quick shot from five feet out. The ball hit off the back of the rim and went through the basket with just three-tenths of a second left.

South Carolina State opened the game on an 8-0 run over 2:48 as Upstate missed on its first four attempts. Following a timeout, the Spartans answered with four straight points on jumpers from Toni Romiti and Sharmayne Edwards. Upstate later trimmed its deficit to 12-9 on a jumper by Hicks, but the Lady Bulldogs came back with eight consecutive points to lead 20-9.

The Spartans stuck around and trailed by just six points with 6:17 remaining until Mykala Jones put South Carolina State ahead 33-20 with 11 points over the span of 1:49. She hit three straight three-pointers and capped her run with two free-throws. Kourtney Williams gave the Lady Bulldogs their largest lead of the half, 19 points, with two free-throws just before the end of intermission. Upstate went into halftime down 41-22.

South Carolina State finished the first half with a 46.9% mark from the field and was 4-of-8 (50%) from behind the three-point line. The Spartans were 10-for-29 overall in the opening stanza.

The second half was a completely different story for both teams. Upstate slowly trimmed away at the Lady Bulldogs' lead over the first 10 minutes of the half and were down nine, 47-38, after Starling's basket at the 9:39 mark. Lauren Bogle's layup two minutes later made it a 49-44 game until Williams put South Carolina State's lead back to eight on her three-pointer with just over 6:30 left in the game.

Clency guided the Spartans on a 10-3 run with four field goals during a four minute span to put Upstate down 57-56 with 1:23 left. That would set up the game-winning sequence as Upstate held possession of the ball for the final 21 seconds. The Spartans recovered their own rebound off a missed three-pointer, jumper and free-throw. Hicks helped set up the game-winner as she pulled down Clency's missed free-throw attempt and immediately call a timeout to set up the final play.

The Upstate defense controlled the second half limiting the Lady Bulldogs to just 3-of-13 shooting and 1-of-3 on three-pointers. The Spartans out-rebounded South Carolina State 36-16 and forced 13 turnovers. Upstate held the Lady Bulldogs to just two points in the paint and two points off turnovers.

The Spartans finished the game with a 44-29 advantage in rebounds and posted a 37.9% (25-of-66) mark from the floor. South Carolina State finished 18-of-45 overall for a 40% clip. Upstate led in points in the paint (34-18), points off turnovers (21-14), second-chance points (18-11) and bench points (31-4).

Williams led all scorers with a game-high 26 points and was joined in double-figures by Jones with 11.

The Spartans will now hit the road for five straight games beginning Monday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. as they travel to face George Washington.

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