ROCK HILL, S.C. – Defense and clutch shooting came together on Saturday afternoon as the Campbell women's basketball team posted an 84-69 victory at first-place Winthrop. The trio of sophomore guard Kiera Gaines (Mechanicsville, Va.), senior guard Tonisha Baker (High Point, N.C.) and junior forward Roslyn Presley (Petersbug, Va.) paced the Lady Camels offense with 23, 20 and 17 points, respectively.
"We are at our best when we are very intense defensively," said head coach Wanda. Our defense contributes a lot to the success that we had on this trip. We also received an all-out team effort to beat a very tough and talented Winthrop team."
Campbell (16-8, 8-5 Big South) played strong defensively by forcing Winthrop (15-9, 9-3 Big South) into 29 turnovers and scoring 30 points in transition. The shots continued to fall as the Lady Camels played with confidence, hitting 9-of-13 attempts from three-point range and finishing at 50.0 pct. overall.
Learning from earlier in the season, the Lady Camels closed the door at the end of the game from the charity stripe as the team sunk 23-of-29 attempts. Presley made a career-best nine free throws, while Baker added seven.
Freshman guard Zena Lovette (High Point, N.C.) tallied 11 points and five rebounds. Campbell held its own in the rebounding department, generating nine second-chance opportunities and grabbing 29 boards as Gaines led the squad with six.
Pacing the Winthrop offense was Dequesha McClanahan with a game-high 29 points, but the Big South Preseason Player of the Year had a hard handling the Campbell defensive pressure and turned the ball over on nine occasions. Aliya Kilpatrick (16) and Diana Choibekova (15) reached double-figures for the Eagles.
A game-high eight rebounds were registered by Schaquilla Nunn as Winthrop paced the contest with 34.
The defensive tone was set from the start as Winthrop won the tip and Baker quickly stole the ball from Taylor Calvert to convert a fast-break layup in the first 10 seconds of the half.
After Choibekova drilled a trey, the Camels began a 12-2 run as Gaines and Lovette nailed back-to-back three-point field goals. Gaines capped the run with another to take a 14-6 advantage with 14:38 on the clock.
The second three-pointer for Lovette provided Campbell with its first double-digit lead of the game at 9:46, 21-11. Seeing the treys fall turned up the defensive intensity and provided additional confidence for the shooters.
Coming off the bench, Presley sparked the Lady Camels by first making outside jumpers and then driving to the basket and making free throws. A jumper from the baseline by junior guard Monique Spry (Wilson, N.C.) put the Lady Camels up 32-19 with 4:38 left.
Just when it seemed that the Lady Camels were going to take a sizable 13-point lead to the half following a jumper by Gaines at 2:05, Choibekova became hot and made two-consecutive treys to bring the home team's deficit to 41-34 at the break.
Early in the second half, Winthrop scored the first five points to cut the Lady Camels lead to 43-41. Presley started an 8-0 spurt with a jumper and Baker registered four points on the fastbreak.
The Eagles continued to hang around with the deficit just eight with 9:19 left until Gaines (2), Baker and Lovette connected on three-point field goals in four-straight possessions to stretch the Campbell advantage to 64-48. A similar situation occurred at Gore Arena as Winthrop hit three treys in a row to take control of the contest on Jan. 26.
Continuing its resiliency, Winthrop used a full-court press to score seven-straight points and cut the lead to 64-56. The Lady Camels responded by making six shots from the charity strip in succession, including a strange circumstance when Winthrop was called for a foul after undercutting a rebounder following the first made shot of a one-and-one.
A layup from Baker put Campbell on top 72-57 with 3:25 remaining. Free throws sunk any possible Eagles came back as Campbell made nine free throws down the stretch to preserve the 85-69 win.
The Lady Camels return to Gore Arena/John W. Pope, Jr. Convocation Center on Thursday against Gardner-Webb. It will serve as the annual "Play for Kay" game for Campbell in support of breast cancer awareness.
