HIGH POINT, N.C. – After a historic 2023-2024 season, the USC Upstate Women's Basketball program sees its season come to an end as Saturday night's Big South Women's Basketball Semifinal game finishes with a 61-45 loss to No. 3 Radford.  

The Spartans found themselves trailing early on as the Highlanders were able to finish the first quarter with a seven-point run after the game was tied 5-5 going into the final three minutes of the quarter. Isabell West led Upstate through the first quarter as she found success from distance. Upstate showed exceptional defensive efforts and was able to make five steals in the first quarter in an attempt to shut down the Highlanders' offense. 

Upstate began to find its rhythm in the second quarter as Trinity Johnson led the Spartans offense with the help of AC Markham. Both teams finished the quarter with a 62.5% free throw percentage after going 5-8 from the free throw line. Jeni Levie played all 10 minutes of the second quarter and led the team in rebounds alongside AC Markham, with three rebounds each. Levine also claimed one of Upstate's two steals in the second quarter while the other was credited to Rebekah Gordon. At the half, the Spartans trailed 26-14 with Johnson leading the team in points and Levine leading the team in rebounds.  

Coming out of the break, Upstate came out swinging and was able to outscore Radford 16-13 to cut the Highlander's lead down to single digits. Isabell West came alive on offense with six points in the third quarter. Johnson continued in her efforts on offense with five points. Gordon led the team in rebounds with three while Markham, Reeves, Johnson, and West all had two boards apiece to out-rebound the Highlanders 12-4. As a unit, the Spartans held a better field goal percentage (45.5%-35.7%) and a better free throw percentage (71.4%-50.0%) as well as scored more points off in the paint (8-4), more second chance points (4-0), and more points off the bench (6-5). 

The final quarter saw 15 points for the Spartans, six of which came from Johnson. Levine had a strong final quarter as well, contributing five points to the Spartans total, as did West with four. West also led the team in steals with two in the final quarter. Despite going 42.9% from the field, 40.0% from the three-point arc, and 50.0% from the free throw line, the Spartans were outscored 22-15 and ultimately fell 61-45 at the final whistle.  

 
Game Information 
Score: USC Upstate 45; Radford 61 
Records: No. 2 USC Upstate (16-15; 10-6 Big South) vs. No. 3 Radford (15-17; 9-7 Big South)  
Location: Qubein Center | High Point, N.C.   

How It Happened: 

First Quarter: Upstate 5; Radford 13 

• Radford scored the first points of the game but West took the lead with a last second shot from distance. The Highlanders responded with one from distance to take a two-point lead at the media timeout (5-3). 

• Both teams then went through nearly two minutes of scoreless play following the timeout. 

• With under three minutes left in the quarter, Upstate tallied another two points while Radford finished the quarter on an eight-point scoring run (13-5). 

Second Quarter: Upstate 14; Radford 26 

• The Highlanders claimed the first few points of the second quarter to establish an 11-point lead before the media timeout.  

• Following the media timeout, Upstate was able to outscore Radford 5-4 to keep chipping away at the Highlander's lead (20-10). 

• In the final three minutes, Upstate added another four points to its now 14-point first half total while Radford added another six points to hold a 12-point lead going into the break (26-14). 

Third Quarter: Upstate 30; Radford 39 

• Upstate started strong coming out of the halftime break, scoring seven unanswered points and forcing Radford to take a timeout to regroup (26-21). 

• The next three and a half minutes saw the Highlanders extend their lead back to eight points while the Spartans scored another two (32-23). 

• Following the second media timeout, Upstate tallied another three points while Radford scored another four to make the game 36-26 going into the final q=two minutes of the third quarter. 

• Upstate outscored Radford 4-3 in the final two minutes of the quarter to bring the game within single digits (39-30). 

Fourth Quarter: Upstate 45; Radford 61 

• Similar to the third quarter, Upstate came out hot in the beginning of the fourth quarter, stacking three points to bring the game within six points and force Radford to regroup with a timeout (39-33). 

• Following Radford's timeout, both teams exchanged baskets as the Spartans tallied another four points while the Highlanders were successful from distance and added another nine to the board (48-37). 

• Upstate found success from distance and was able to outscore Radford 9-8 with two minutes remaining in the game (56-45). 

• In the final two minutes, the Highlanders scored five free throws to end the game 61-45. 

Notable 

• This was Upstate's first ever Big South Women's Basketball Semifinal appearance. 

• Trinity Johnson had her 16th game of the season scoring 10+ points, her seventh game of the season scoring 15+ points, with the 16 points she had against Radford. 

• Johnson had a season-high 15 field goal attempts. 

• Isabell West had her 19th game of the season scoring 10+ points with the 13 points she had against Radford.  
     

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