ROANOKE, VA — Nikki Reddick's jumper with eight seconds left gave #7 seed Coastal Carolina a 58-56 win over #6 seed Winthrop in the semifinals of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Women's Basketball Tournament at the Roanoke Civic Center Friday afternoon.

The victory advanced the Lady Chanticleers (10-17) to the Big South Conference championship game for the third time in the last four years and marks the first time in history that a seventh seed has advanced to the women's title game.

Coastal was led by Reddick, who had an amazing game. She finished with a game-high 29 points, four assists and five steals. Courtney Brown had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the victorious Lady Chanticleers.

Winthrop was led by Kia Bell with 15 points, while Janette Arrington chipped in 11 points. Stephanie Pannell added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Reddick scored 18 points in the first half as the Lady Chanticleers shot 53 percent (17-of-32) from the field to grab a 40-26 halftime lead. Coastal built the lead to as much as 16 in the second half before Winthrop slowly came back.

The Lady Eagles cut the lead to 53-50 with 2:43 re,maining on a layup from Charlotta Wennefors. The Lady Chants built the lead back to six at 56-50 when Whitney Shearer connected on a trey from the right side with 1:41 on the clock.

Winthrop countered with a three-pointer from Bell with 1:24 left to slice the lead to 56-53. After Reddick missed a shot, Bell connected again from beyond the arc to knot the game at 56-56 with just 38 seconds remaining.

Following a Coastal Carolina timeout, the Lady Chanticleers inbounded the ball to Reddick. Reddick drove and hit a fall away 12-footer with eight seconds left to give Coastal a 58-56 lead.

"We wanted to get the ball to Nikki on the last shot," said LeForce. "We got her the ball and she hit a great shot when we had to have it.

"We knew at halftime that Winthrop wasn't going to give up," added LeForce. "They hit some big shots in the second half to make things interesting down the stretch.

After two timeouts, Winthrop got the ball to Arrington in the lane but her 10-footer rimmed out and Shearer grabbed the rebound to give Coastal its second straight upset victory. The Lady Chanticleers upset second-seeded Elon Wednesday night.

"We're obviously disappointed that we lost but we're very proud of the fact that we fought back the way we did," said Winthrop coach Cheryl Nix. "We're also proud of the fact that we advanced in the tournament and it shows the program is going in a positive direction."

NOTES - Coastal Carolina and Liberty will meet for the Big South Conference championship game Saturday at Noon and it will be the third time in the last four years they've met in the title game. However, Coastal was the second and third seed the previous two trips. Liberty is attempting to win its sixth straight tournament championship. Coastal Carolina coach Alan LeForce is attempting to become just the second coach ever to take a men's and women's team to the NCAA tournament. He was the men's coach at East Tennessee State and took the Buccaneers to the NCAA tourney in 1991 and 1992.