ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball kept Winthrop off the free throw line while cruising to a 51-34 victory over the Lady Eagles Saturday, Jan. 17 at Winthrop Coliseum. The Chanticleers were led by redshirt freshman Courtney Grambley (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) who registered a career-high 14 points to help the Chants snap a two-game losing skid and improve to 10-7 overall and 2-2 in the Big South. Winthrop fell to 6-9 and 1-3 in league play.

Grambley came off the bench to net a game-high 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor, including two three-pointers. Sophmores Sydnei Moss (North Augusta, S.C./North Augusta) and Kate Jasinski (Toledo, Ohio/Penn (Ind.)) added 13 and 10 points, respectively. Winthrop’s only player in double figures was Shelly Hankins, who went 3-of-6 from behind the arc and 4-7 from the field for 11 points.

The first seven minutes of the game were tough for the Chanticleers as junior Devin Rivers (Miami, Fla./Felix Varela) left the game with an injury just two minutes in and the team could not get a bucket to go their way and went scoreless. Fighting through its scoring drought, Coastal Carolina used its tough defense to stay in the game, as it limited Winthrop to only seven points during that time. Freshman Olivia Irick’s (Columbia, S.C./W.J. Keenan) aggressive play under the basket created an opportunity for sophomore Moss, who finally put the Chants on the scoreboard with a short jumper at 7-2 as the clock hit the 13-minute mark.  

Coastal Carolina quickly battled back into the game as Grambley drained a triple and a two-point jumper during a 9-0 run, giving the Chants their first lead of the game at 11-9 with 8:05 remaining in the half. The Lady Eagles kept it close and took a four-point lead at 18-14 with just under five minutes to play, but Coastal Carolina closed the half with a 10-0 run, including a 4-for-4 performance at the free throw line, to take a 24-18 lead into the break.

Coastal Carolina’s leading scorer, junior Kendra Reynolds (South Bend, Ind./Riley (Olney Central J.C.)), scored her first field goal of the game four minutes into the second frame, which started a 14-3 run for the Chants to take control of the game at 43-30 with 5:27 left to play. Another Grambley layup in the final minute of play gave Coastal Carolina its largest lead of the game at 51-32, but Winthrop’s Ashley Cox nabbed the final two points of the game leaving the score at 51-34.

Coastal Carolina went 12-for-17 at the free throw line, while Winthrop never found its way to the charity stripe. The Chanticleers had only two fouls as a team until the final six minutes when they tallied three more for a total of five fouls in the entire game. Coastal Carolina had 11 turnovers, but forced the Lady Eagles to turn the ball over 21 times and scored 17 points off the giveaways. Grambley and Moss led the Chanticleer bench as they outscored Winthrop’s reserves 29-8.

The Chanticleers will make their first trip of the season to Virginia for two games starting with Radford (3-12, 2-1 Big South) Saturday, Jan. 26. Game time is set for 3 p.m.