CHARLESTON, S.C. – Looking to close out its first road swing during Big South Conference play USC Upstate women's basketball faced a tough challenge against a feisty Charleston Southern team as the Spartans' fourth-quarter comeback attempt fell short in the waning seconds Saturday afternoon.
 
Turning up the defensive pressure, trailing by six late in the fourth quarter, the Spartans gave themselves a chance to erase the deficit, forcing four turnovers and blocking a shot over the game's final four minutes as they began whittling into the Charleston Southern advantage. However, Upstate's last effort in the final seconds rolled off as did the time on the clock in a 55-53 defeat Saturday.
 
Leading Upstate, the duo of senior forward Molly Coleman and junior guard Jada Logan extended the Spartans' streak of games with multiple double-figures scorers, dropping 14 and 12 points, respectively. Coleman's 14 points came with three rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks while Logan added a game-high-tying nine boards and three steals.
 
Game Information
Score: Charleston Southern 55; USC Upstate 53
Records: USC Upstate (11-5; 3-2 Big South); Charleston Southern (2-15; 2-5 Big South)
Location: Buccaneer Fieldhouse | Charleston, S.C.
 
How It Happened
First Quarter

• Forcing turnovers on each of Charleston Southern's first three possessions of the game, Upstate turned their opponent's miscues into an early 4-0 advantage. Jada Logan created the run, beginning with a driving layup before a steal and layup extended the lead.
• Seeing the Buccaneers halt the game-opening run with a made free throw, Logan continued her hot start to the game, adding an and-1 conversion to extend the lead to 7-1. Seeing a driving layup from Chellia Watson fall, Upstate outscored Charleston Southern 9-3 over the game's first four minutes.
• Charleston Southern began chipping away at Upstate's lead with a 5-0 run of their own before a floater from Terah Harness and another layup from Logan pushed the Spartan advantage to five. The Buccaneers, however, closed the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a one-point lead into the first break.

Second Quarter

• Charleston Southern opened the second quarter with three made free throws, extending the team's scoring run to 9-0 across the two quarters to give the hosts their largest lead of the first half—four points.
• Molly Coleman snapped the Buccaneer run with back-to-back layups to spark a short scoring run and tie the game at 17 apiece. After a Charleston Southern bucket, Watson and Dakota McCaughan splashed three balls to create a 6-0 run and give Upstate a 10-2 scoring advantage since the four-point deficit.
• The Buccaneers twice trimmed the Upstate lead to two over the final five minutes of the half before the Spartans tallied the final three points of the half to take a five-point lead into the locker room.

Third Quarter

• Out of the halftime locker room, Charleston Southern drained a three-pointer to open the second-half scoring, cutting the Upstate lead to two once again.
• Trimming into Upstate's advantage, the Buccaneers held the Spartans to 0-of-6 shooting to open the second half, holding the Spartans without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. Upstate scored its first five points of the half from the charity stripe, mitigating Charleston Southern's three three-point makes to open the quarter and limit the hosts' lead to just one point.
• Hitting Upstate's first field goal of the second half, Denijsha Wilson rose up from beyond the arc to put Upstate back ahead. The three sparked a back-and-forth effort for the remainder of the quarter as the game faced a 40-40 tie at the conclusion of the quarter.

Fourth Quarter

• Following a Rachael Rose three-ball to put the Spartans up one at 43-42, Charleston Southern used its first scoring streak of the fourth quarter to regain the lead, seeing Janaia Fargo connect on consecutive jumpers.
• Upstate began chipping away at the Buccaneer advantage, keeping it to one before Charleston Southern used its longest run of the quarter to create its largest lead of the game. Alyssia Faye led the Buccaneers' second scoring run, scoring five straight points to extend the Buccaneer lead to six.
• Following Wilson's driving layup with 4:18 remaining, a shot that trimmed the Charleston Southern advantage to four, both teams went cold from the field, combining to make just one field goal the remainder of the game. Upstate's Coleman made the field goal, a layup with 44 seconds remaining, to trim the host lead to two.

 
Notable

• Seeing both Molly Coleman and Jada Logan score in double-figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively, Upstate extended its streak of games with multiple double-figure scorers to 20 consecutive games. The streak includes all 16 games this season.
• Pulling in nine rebounds to go with her 12 points, Logan tallied her fourth game in Big South play with eight or more rebounds, corralling five or more boards in each of her team's five league games. In Big South play, she's averaging a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game.

 
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