N. CHARLESTON, SC— Winthrop committed 22 turnovers, part of which led to 17 points in the second half for Charleston Southern as it fell 66-62 in overtime, Monday evening at the CSU Fieldhouse in the regular season finale for both teams.
Helen Terry made a free throw with 1.4 seconds to seal the win for the Bucs, who rallied from 16 points down in the second half to put themselves in a tie for third place in the Big South Conference standings as they finish the regular season 17-12 overall and 9-7 in the Big South. Winthrop falls to 13-17 on the year and 7-9 in the conference and will finish in a tie for fifth place in the league.
"We went six possessions in a row after playing really tough defense up to that point," said Winthrop head women's basketball coach Bud Childers. "We got to the line in overtime but didn't make free throws and didn't finish shots. We gave one away tonight."
Winthrop led by four points in overtime and still led 62-60 with 2:14 remaining, but Katie Tull's three-pointer out of a timeout put Charleston Southern up for good. After a miss by Lacey Lyons on a mid-range jumper on the baseline, Terry rebounded the game and took the ball the length of the court and eventually finished with a lay-in to go up three. Kaitlyn Rubino had a good look for the Lady Eagles to tie the game in overtime with four seconds to go, but her shot was a bit long and Terry hauled in the board.
The Lady Eagles took a 57-55 lead after Lyons made a nice feed down low to TaQuoia Hammick, who hit a short turn-around jumper off the glass with 1:13 to go. Charleston Southern was able to tie the game when Lyons was called for a foul as Kelsey Wasmer dribbled to the middle of the lane. Wasmer drained both free throws with six seconds remaining to force overtime.
Winthrop led 39-23 in the second half after a steal and a lay-in by Shelly Hankins capped off an 8-0 run with 15:36 to go in the game. Wasmer hit a three out of the media timeout that started a 16-0 run to tie the game at 39-39 with 12:38 remaining. Terry tied the game at 39 all when the Lady Eagle defense got mixed up, opening a wide open lane for Terry to get an easy lay-up. Winthrop answered right back with a Lyons trey and both teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the way.
CSU scored the first basket as Katie Tull took little time to get on the scoreboard as she hit a three from the wing, but Winthrop answered with an 11-0 run behind nine points from Fansler. Winthrop beat the full court press and had an open look as Fansler tied the game with a three of her own. Kaitlyn Rubino scored on a put back off and then Fansler reeled off six more points. Fansler was fouled while draining a short jumper and completed the three-point play followed by another three for an 11-3 advantage. The run ended as Helen Terry dribbled through the Lady Eagle defense for an easy lay-in.
Terry made two more free throws to make it a 13-7 game before Winthrop went on a 10-0 run for a 23-7 lead with 9:29 remaining in the half. The run was highlighted by back-to-back threes by Mary Hathaway and Lacey Lyons. However, Winthrop only managed three field goals over the final nine minutes of the half but continued its tough defense to hold CSU to 21 percent shooting in the half and lead 29-18 at the break. Winthrop shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but 12 turnovers allowed the Bucs to stay within reach.
Winthrop turned the ball over only 10 times in the second half and overtime, but those turnovers turned into 17 points for the Bucs. Winthrop defensively held the Bucs to 21 percent shooting in the first half, but Charleston Southern shot 41 percent in the second half and 47 percent from behind the arc (6-for-13) to get back in the game.
Wasmer led all scorers with 20 points while Ali Schwagmeyer had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Terry and Tull finished with 11 points each.
Fansler led Winthrop with 14 points and had a career-high three blocks. Lyons finished with 13 points and Cole added 11 points and six assists. Rubino, who played high school down the road from Charleston Southern at Wando High School, chipped in with seven points, two assists and a career-high nine rebounds. Hammick pulled down 11 rebounds and tied a career-high with four blocks.
Winthrop will be the sixth-seed in this coming week's Big South Conference tournament and will face third-seeded High Point, which got the third seed in a tie-breaker against Charleston Southern in a coin toss.