Spartanburg, S.C. – Alex Stanford was one of five USC Upstate players to finish in double-figures Saturday afternoon as the Spartans pulled away late to defeat the Jacksonville Dolphins 68-59 on Senior Day from The Hodge Center.

The Spartans, who clinched a home game in the Atlantic Sun Tournament with the victory, moves to 15-12 overall and 10-6 in the league, while the Dolphins drop to 11-16 on the season and 8-8 in conference play. Upstate earns its third 10-win campaign in A-Sun play since joining the league in 2007-08. The Spartans went 14-6 in 2009-10 and 13-7 in 2010-11.

Stanford led all scorers with a game-high 17 points off the bench highlighted by a 5-of-10 shooting performance and was 7-for-8 at the free-throw line. Brittany Clency chipped in 14 points and Brittany Starling had 12. Toni Romiti added 11 points coming off the bench. Valese McAllister, playing in her final home regular season game, just missed her third double-double in five games as she finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Sherranda Reddick had a team-high 12 points for Jacksonville, and Jade Cargill contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.

The game began as a defensive affair with the two teams connecting on just two field goals in the opening 4:55 as Upstate lead 5-3 on a layup by Starling. The Spartans held a two-point lead for nearly four minutes until a three by Reddick gave the Dolphins a 10-9 advantage with 11:45 left. Starling answered the following possession with a layup to put Upstate back in front by one, and Romiti would stretch the lead to four after her three-pointer.

Stanford and Clency combined for the Spartans' next seven points as they held a 21-12 lead at the 7:18 mark. Starling kept the lead at nine following two free-throws with 5:35 to go, but Cargill recorded four points in a row to trim the Jacksonville deficit down to 25-20. Stanford put Upstate back up by nine, but the Dolphins stuck around and trailed 31-25 with 31 seconds left before halftime. Romiti sent the Spartans into the locker room in front by nine, 34-25, as she hit a three with  eight seconds remaining.

Jacksonville opened the second half on an 8-2 run over the first 2:12 as Queen Alford capped things off with a layup to make it a 36-33 game. Upstate followed with five straight points after McAllister's layup and a three by Romiti to push its lead back to eight at 41-33 with 16:56 left. McAllister then gave the Spartans their first double-digit lead of the game at 43-33 on her jumper.

Starling gave Upstate its largest lead of the game, 49-37, at the 13:01 mark after her layup and Stanford kept it a 12-point contest less than a minute later. The Spartans maintained a lead of at least seven points over the next 3:31 until a three by Reddick got the Dolphins to within four at 55-51 with 7:43 remaining. Upstate was able to increase its lead back to eight, but Jacksonville managed to cut the score down to 59-57 at the 4:01 mark.

The Spartans broke the game open two minutes later as the Dolphins were hit with a personal foul and technical foul on the same play, sending Upstate to the free-throw line for four attempts. Romiti and Stanford connected on all four free-throws and gave the Spartans a seven-point cushion, 64-57, with two minutes to go. Upstate sealed the victory at the free-throw line as Clency was successful on all four of her tries to send the Spartans away with a 68-59 win.

Upstate finished the game shooting 36.9% (24-of-65) while Jacksonville posted a 30.6% (22-of-72) shooting percentage.

The Spartans led in points in the paint (36-32), points off turnovers (22-18) and bench points (40-27). The Dolphins were able to outrebound Upstate 54-40, but the Spartans forced 23 turnovers leading to the 22 points.

Upstate wraps up its regular season next week on the road beginning Thursday, Mar. 6 against Northern Kentucky at 7 p.m.

Follow Upstate women's basketball on your mobile device, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.