DES MOINES, Iowa – On the road for the final time in the team's non-conference slate and making a return trip west of the Mississippi, USC Upstate women's basketball saw its contingent of freshmen step forth and take the lead in an early afternoon tilt at Drake Monday afternoon. Headed by a pair of double-figure scorers, the Spartan freshmen poured in 79.4 percent of the team's scoring against the Bulldogs.
 
Monday's contest marked the third game this season with multiple freshmen scoring in double-figures, the first time seeing the feat accomplished by two true freshmen since the 2022-23 season opener—head coach Jason Williams' first game atop the Spartan program. Freshman guard Olivia Forster and freshman forward Ava Miller—in her first career start—tallied 10 points apiece. Supplementing their scoring totals, Forster totaled career-highs with four steals, three assists, and two made three-pointers while Miller totaled a career-high six rebounds.
 
Game Information
Score: Drake 84; USC Upstate 34
Records: USC Upstate (2-10; 0-0 Big South); Drake (5-5; 0-0 Missouri Valley)
Location: Knapp Center | Des Moines, Iowa
 
How It Happened
First Quarter

• Matching up with her sister, Anna, USC Upstate's Ava Miller—in her first career start—took the opening tap for the Spartans. Drake countered with the first 19 points of the game before Olivia Forster rose up from the left wing, draining a three to snap the run.
• Forster's three kickstarted a 10-0 Spartan run followed by an and-one conversion from Miller and free throws from Lele Tanuvasa and Jeni Levine.

 
Second Quarter

• Adding to its markers to end the first quarter, Drake fashioned a 14-0 run, scoring the first 12 points of the new stanza. Again, for the Spartans, Forster cut the Bulldog scoring run, hitting a hook shot inside the lane as she went coast-to-coast.
• After a pair of Bulldog free throws, Cassie Gallagher chased Forster's field goal with one of her own, getting the second-chance points for the Spartans. The bucket gave Upstate consecutive field goals.

 
Third Quarter

• Building upon their small scoring run to close the first half, the Bulldogs built a 13-0 scoring after scoring the first nine markers of the third quarter. For the third time in as many quarters, Forster snapped the Drake scoring run, this time burying a three from the corner.
• Drake put together another pair of scoring runs (6-0 and 8-0) in the period as Vera Soderblom and Gracie Barnes ended each run for the Spartans. Soderblom did so with a nifty finish off a feed from Forster while Barnes knocked down an elbow jumper ahead of the quarter buzzer.

 
Fourth Quarter

• Not letting Drake jump out to a long scoring stretch to start the quarter, Upstate answered the first Bulldog basket as Miller laid one in with her left hand. The Bulldogs, however, countered with a 7-0 scoring run before Tanuvasa dropped in her first field goal.
• Starting with a pair of makes from the charity stripe from Miller, Upstate constructed its second-longest scoring run of the day, notching six straight points, five of which came from Miller. Following a Drake free throw, Upstate pushed its scoring run to 8-1 as the game dwindled.

 
Notable

• After scoring 10 points each, Olivia Forster and Ava Miller are the first true freshman teammates to score double-figures in the same game since November 7, 2022. Forster and Miller are the first to accomplish the feat since Cali Levine (14 points) and Nyla Walker (12 points) against Southern Wesleyan.
• Forster and Miller also become the first true freshman teammates with double-figure scoring totals in the same game versus a Division I opponent since Feb. 16, 2022, when Rachael Rose (29 points) and Terah Harness (13 points) did so against Presbyterian.

 
Up Next for the Spartans
In another Education Day contest to close non-conference play, USC Upstate returns to the G.B. Hodge Center Thursday morning. The Spartans host Lees-McRae for an 11 a.m. ET tip-off.
 
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