Jacksonville, Fla. – USC Upstate led by as many as 23 points in the second half Saturday afternoon and held off a late Jacksonville rally en route to a 66-58 victory in Atlantic Sun women's basketball action at Veterans Memorial Arena.

The Spartans improve their record to 11-9 on the season and 6-3 in league play, while the Dolphins fall to 9-11 overall and 6-3 in the conference. Upstate increases its winning streak to five games for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign when it defeated Kennesaw State, and North Florida and Jacksonville twice. The Spartans also move into a tie for third place in the conference standings with the Dolphins, but now own the tiebreaker.

Brittany Clency led all scorers with 18 points and recorded nine made free-throws for the second straight game. She was 9-for-10 at the charity stripe and added three assists and two rebounds. Lauren Bogle added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists while Valese McAllister pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.

Clency gave Upstate a 52-29 lead on a free-throw with 12:32 left as Jacksonville was held scoreless for close to 12 minutes from the 3:34 mark in the first half to 11:14 in the second. During the Dolphins' scoreless streak, the Spartans posted a 21-0 run that concluded with Clency's free-throw. Upstate maintained the 20-point cushion until Jade Cargill made it 54-35 with 9:39 left.

Jacksonville then began slowly chipping away at the Spartan lead and would cut to 11, 56-45, with 4:28 left. Upstate answered back with four straight points from Clency and McAllister to push it back to a 15-point contest. The Dolphins trimmed it to single-digits courtesy of an 11-0 run and trailed by just four, 60-56, with 44 seconds left.

The Spartans sealed the victory at the free-throw line going 6-for-6 in the final minute as Clency was successful on four and Shelby Hicks two. Clency's final free-throw with 21 seconds remaining gave Upstate the 66-58 win.

The Spartans came out offensively in the first half clicking on all cylinders connecting on three of their first four shots to lead 6-2 on a layup by Bogle. Jacksonville cut its deficit to two but Upstate came back with an 8-0 run to lead 14-4 with 14:57 left after a basket by Raven Jefferson. The Spartans led by double-figures for the next nine minutes highlighted by a 15-point advantage twice.

Jacksonville made it a two-point game at 31-29 after posting a 13-4 run that covered nearly five minutes capped off by a three-point play by Queen Alford. Upstate stepped up on both sides of the court for the remainder of the half as it held the Dolphins scoreless as part of an 11-0 run going into the locker room. Brittany Clency put an end to Jacksonville's run with her three-pointer as the Spartans went ahead 29-17 at the 8:36 mark. Alex Stanford sent Upstate into halftime in front 42-29 after her layup with four seconds left.

The Spartans finished the game shooting 45.3% (24-of-53) overall and 15-20 (75.0%) at the charity stripe. The Dolphins were 22-of-76 (28.9%) as a team and 11-for-16 (68.8%) at the free-throw line. Upstate was also 3-of-8 (37.5%) behind the three-point line while Jacksonville was 3-for-17 (17.6%).

The Spartans held the advantage in points in the paint (34-32) and fast-break points (16-8).

Cargill had a team-high 15 points for the Dolphins and Alford tallied a double-double on 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Upstate returns home for the first of three straight games Thursday, Feb. 6 when it faces Stetson at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

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