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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
team
44
Winner Radford Rad 3-7,3-4 Big South
41
USC Upstate USCU 5-13,3-10 Big South
Winner
Radford Rad
3-7,3-4 Big South
44
Final
41
USC Upstate USCU
5-13,3-10 Big South
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Radford Rad 7 13 13 11 44
USC Upstate USCU 13 6 12 10 41

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Radford Erases Early Deficit, Downs USC Upstate for First Road Win

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Tina Lindenfeld and Bryonna McClean had 10 points apiece and Rachel LaLonde grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds Friday night, as Radford defeated USC Upstate, 44-41, inside the G.B. Hodge Center.
 
The win marked the first road win of the season for Radford, which trailed by as many as eight early in the contest. The Highlanders outscored USC Upstate 37-28 over the final three quarters.
 
Lindenfeld had eight rebounds in addition to her 10 points, while Ariel Williams had seven points for Radford. Freshmen Destinee Marshall and Kyanna Morgan had six and five points, respectively, in a balanced scoring effort for the Highlanders.
 
Radford got off to a slow start, as the home team went on a 7-2 run to open the game before Marshall knocked down a 3-pointer. Upstate went on a 6-2 run to close the quarter and took a 13-7 lead into the second.
 
USC Upstate continued its early momentum by scoring four of the first six points in the second quarter, but it was all Highlanders from there to close the half. LaLonde found Williams for a layup to kick-start an 11-2 run to close the half. Lindenfeld hit a pair of 3-pointers, one from each wing, to cut the deficit to two, 19-17. Kyanna Morgan then drained a three from the corner with 1.1 seconds on the clock to send Radford to the half with a 20-19 lead.
 
The Highlanders continued their momentum from the late second-half surge into the third quarter, as McClean hit a mid-range jumper on Radford's first offensive possession of the quarter. Radford's lead reached nine points on 3-pointers by Marshall and Makaila Wilson to make it 33-24 with just under two minutes to go in the quarter. The Spartans closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to make it 33-31 in favor of Radford after three quarters.
 
Lindenfeld ended the run on the first possession of the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from the left wing. Radford extended its lead back to seven, 38-31, on a pair of free throws by McClean before three straight mid-range shots from USC Upstate cut the Highlander lead to a point, 38-37, with seven minutes to go in the game. Radford had an answer for every Upstate point from there on, as despite the close nature of the game, the Highlanders led for the entirety of the second half. McClean made a driving layup to end the Spartan scoring run, then connected on another layup late in the quarter to make it a two-possession game. Radford's stingy defense limited USC Upstate to just two points in the final four minutes and forced a missed 3-pointer as time expired to hold on for the win.
 
Radford held USC Upstate without a made 3-pointer for the entire game, as the Spartans went 0-for-12 from beyond the arc. The Highlanders also limited USC Upstate to just a 34.0 percent clip from the field and forced 17 Spartan turnovers. McKinley Brooks-Sumpter led USC Upstate with 11 points, while Molly Coleman had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
QUOTABLE
"This is a game we really just had to gut out. I don't think it was a very pretty game offensively, obviously we had a low-scoring game, but I thought both teams were working hard to get good shots. I think it was a night where both teams just struggled to hit an open shot, but sometimes you have to win some grind-it-out type of games like that. I'm proud of our team for playing a tight game, playing a possession game for the last four or five minutes. I'm really proud of how they executed on defense late. We had a couple fouls to give, I think that really helped us. This is a good win for us. First road win for this group and I'm really proud of them."
- Head coach Mike McGuire on the win
 
"This win is really big for us. We just had to lock in and compete, and we really wanted this one. [The result at] Hampton wasn't what we wanted, so we came back and responded, and I think our result was really good. We knew we had to attack them, we knew what they struggled at, so Coach McGuire told us to settle down [in the second quarter] and we were good from there. It felt really good to start [the second quarter scoring run] off."
- Senior forward Tina Lindenfeld on the win, the team mentality and the second quarter run
 
UP NEXT
The Highlanders and Spartans close their two-game series Saturday at 4 p.m.

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