Johnson City, Tenn. – Alex Stanford's layup with two seconds left lifted USC Upstate to a 63-62 victory over the East Tennessee State Buccaneers Sunday afternoon in Atlantic Sun women's basketball action inside Brooks Gymnasium.

The Spartans improve to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in the league, while the Buccaneers fall to 5-11 on the season and 1-4 in conference play.

Brittany Clency led all scorers with 14 points to extend her double-digit scoring streak to eight games. Stanford and Sharmayne Edwards came off the bench to score 11 points each. Brittany Starling had a team-high nine rebounds.

Shawn Randall scored a team-best 13 points for East Tennessee State, while Brianna McQueen added 12 and Maria Bond 11. Serena Clark pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds.

Upstate fell behind by as many as 11 points in the second half as ETSU began by making its first four field-goal attempts. The Buccaneers opened the half with an eight point lead, 39-31, courtesy of a 9-2 run capped off by Clark's layup with 17:58 left.  The Spartans stayed within eight during a majority of the second half until McQueen put ETSU ahead 56-45 at the 8:14 mark.

Valese McAllister sank two free-throws with 7:03 remaining to begin Upstate's comeback. The Spartans outscored the Buccaneers 16-5 the rest of the way highlighted by a 7-0 run over a 2:23 span. Stanford's first career three-pointer cut Upstate's deficit to 62-59 after ETSU had pushed its lead back to six the previous possession. Stanford contributed to the Spartans next basket as her assist led to a Shelby Hicks layup to make it a one-point contest, 62-61, with 1:35 left.

Stanford's game-winner came after the Buccaneers missed a field-goal and got possession off the rebound as the ball deflected off an opposing player. Upstate quickly got the ball to the other side of the court and called its final timeout with seven seconds left. Stanford received the inbound pass and beat the defender one-on-one leading to her layup. A last second shot attempt by ETSU missed to the left giving Upstate the come-from-behind win.

Despite forcing the Buccaneers into 11 first-half turnovers and converting them into 12 points, the Spartans trailed at halftime 30-29 after a layup by Randall with two seconds remaining. Upstate struggled in the first half at the free-throw line going just 4-of-8. That mark improved in the second half as it went 10-of-13 while ETSU was just 11-of-19.

The Buccaneers opened the game on a 6-2 run over the first 3:25 after McQueen hit two free-throws. The Spartans cut their deficit to 6-5 on Lauren Bogle's free-throw, but ETSU answered to take a 10-7 lead on two Bond free-throws.

Clency tied the game at 12-12 with 12:12 left in the half and the Buccaneers followed the next possession with a three-pointer by Shamauria Bridges. Edwards later tied the score at 16-16 with her jumper.

Neither team led by more than three points for the remaining 8:46 of the half as it featured a total of five ties. The two teams traded baskets for the next six minutes until a three by Clency gave Upstate its first lead of the game, 29-26, with 1:49 left. That would be the last points scored in the half by the Spartans as ETSU recorded the next four including the layup by Randall.

Upstate finished the game shooting 35.4% (23-of-65) overall and 66.7% (14-of-21) from the free-throw line. The Buccaneers went 20-of-49 (40.8%) as a team and 18-of-29 at the charity stripe.

The Spartans held the advantage in points in the paint (26-20), points off turnovers (20-16), second-chance points (8-6), fast-break points (10-8) and bench points (30-21).

Upstate returns home on Thursday, Jan. 23 when it hosts Mercer at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN3.

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