SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Radford's (7-10, 5-3 Big South) first quarter dominance set the tone for the game at USC Upstate (6-12, 1-8 Big South). The Highlanders 57-41 victory over the Spartans, is their third consecutive Big South Conference win and longest streak of the season so far.
Sydney Nunley ended the game with her third double-double in three-games.
With only 13 seconds off the game clock,
Khiana Johnson wasted no time in getting Radford on the board with a jumper. The Highlanders proceeded to mount a 15-0 run before a Spartan jumper broke the streak around the two-minute mark. Johnson closed out the quarter with the final three points, with Radford ahead 18-2.
Upstate played a tighter second quarter but were still outscored by a margin of two. The second stanza was much like the first for Radford, with six players scoring. Heading into halftime,
Tina Lindenfeld's fastbreak layup with 40 seconds remaining pushed the Highlanders ahead 35-17.
The Spartans exited the break and made the necessary adjustments, implementing a two-three zone. Their offense built off of their defensive stops with them outscoring the Highlanders by a few points in the second half. However, Radford's explosive first quarter was just too much to overcome down the stretch.
In the final quarter of play, Upstate's Kathryn Kirkwood notched a jumper to cut the lead to 13. The Highlanders responded with a pair of Nunley buckets to push the lead to 17. After Barrett Herring's jumper the teams began to trade point-for-point until Nunley's free throw solidified a break in play. The lead had been restored to 15 points and
Amele Ngwafang closed the contest with a free throw of her own to extend the lead to 16.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE
Nunley has now posted a double-double in each of her last three-games played. In this outing, she tallied 15 points and 14 rebounds. She added a pair of assists, a block, two steals while shooting 50 percent from the floor and charity stripe through 33 minutes. This is her fifth double-double on the year and 17th of her career.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Highlanders got out in transition tonight and ran the break for a total of 10 points. The bench produced 15 points and
Amele Ngwafang grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench. Garnering most of their points from the paint, Radford tallied 34 from there. USC Upstate ended the game with 12 turnovers and Radford posted 14 points off of those miscues. The Highlanders concluded the game shooting 37 percent from the floor, only 13 percent from three, and 64 percent from the free throw line. In comparison, the Spartans were 26 percent from the floor but a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. Upstate made two threes and attempted 14.
QUOTABLE
"I think essentially the first quarter won the game for us," said head coach Mike McGuire. "We got off to a really good start and I though our execution on the offensive end and shot selection was really good."
TWEET OF THE GAME
UP NEXT
Radford continues their two-game road trip, making the final stop at Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, N.C. The Highlanders will face the Runnin' Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan. 25th at 2:00 p.m.
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