Women's Basketball 11/26/2016 12:00:00 AM

Cold Second Half Sinks Spartans against Gardner-Webb

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate women's basketball team dropped a 57-53 decision to Gardner-Webb on Saturday afternoon in non-conference action at the Hodge Center.

Gardner-Webb improves to 3-3 while Upstate falls to 3-4

Raven Jefferson led the Spartans with 15 points with DeNisha Swain adding 11. Vanessa Agrusa pulled down a team-leading four rebounds. Jefferson and Brittney Delva each had four assists.

Lovely Locklear, Evelyn Adebayo and Kiera Currie each scored 10 points to lead the Runnin' Bulldogs. Currie grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Game Breakdown

Leading 12-11 at the 4:31 mark of the first quarter, the Spartans went on a 15-4 run to close the quarter with a 27-15 lead.
A Delva 3-pointer with 8:43 to play in the second quarter gave Upstate a 33-17 lead, its largest of the game. Gardner-Webb cut the Spartan advantage to 40-32 with just over a minute to play in the period before a Jefferson 3-pointer sent the Spartans into halftime with a 43-33 lead.
Gardner-Webb opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run to make the score 43-39 with 7:49 to play. An Agrusa 3-pointer pushed the Upstate lead back to 47-42 with just over five minutes remaining. The Runnin' Bulldogs claimed a 51-49 lead on a Currie jumper with 34 seconds left in the third quarter before Delva answered to tie the score at 51 heading into the final quarter.
Adebayo broke the tie and gave Gardner-Webb the lead for good on a jumper with 7:34 to play. Upstate pulled to within two, 55-53, following a Riley Popplewell jumper with 1:55 remaining. Following a Locklear miss with 34 seconds left, the Spartans grabbed the defensive rebound but would turn the ball over on the ensuing possession. Currie sank a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to seal the win.

By the Numbers

Gardner-Webb outrebounded Upstate 42-22 and held a 40-20 advantage in points in the paint.
Upstate scored 21 points off of 25 Gardner-Webb turnovers. The Runnin' Bulldogs scored 14 points off of 18 Spartan turnovers
The Upstate bench outscored the Gardner-Webb reserves 21-18.
Gardner-Webb finished 25-for-54 (46.3 percent) from the field while the Spartans went 20-for-54 (37.0 percent) from the field.
Upstate made 11 of 16 (68.8 percent) field goals in the first quarter and was 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) in the first half. The Spartans finished 4-for-28 (14.2 percent) from the field in the second half.
The teams scored a combined eight points in the final quarter while shooting a combined 3-for-27 (11.1 percent) from the field.

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