CHARLESTON, S.C. - On the road again – Charleston Southern is heading up I-26 and making the swing toward I-77 this week as the Buccaneers make the trek to Rock Hill, S.C. and the Winthrop Coliseum on Tuesday night for a midweek Big South matchup. Tipoff between the Buccaneers and the Winthrop Eagles is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

The Bucs (3-17, 1-10 Big South) are looking for a measure of revenge in the Tuesday night contest as the teams lined up against each other just 10 days ago inside the Buccaneer Field House. Charleston Southern was unable to keep up their third-quarter momentum in the first matchup in falling to to Winthrop, 58-53.

Sharita Godfrey scored 14 of her team-leading 16 points in the third quarter as the Buccaneers fought their way back into the back-and-forth contest. The Bucs cut the margin down to three-points at the third quarter break, before Kelsie Ruff drained a three-pointer on CSU's opening possession to tie the game up at 41-41.

Godfrey and Ahlea Myers followed up with back-to-back jumpers to keep the Bucs in the lead with 7:49 remaining as the Bucs clung to the narrow two-point margin early in the frame. Winthrop (9-9, 6-3 Big South) rallied back with a four-point swing by Anika Riley to retake the lead with 6:48 remaining in the contest.

Destinee Jamison-Whitfield followed up two possessions later with a driving layup to extend the Winthrop lead to 49-46 just prior to the media timeout. The Bucs had two chances to retake the lead the rest of the way as Myers drilled a three-pointer (3:09 remaining) and Carmella Walker converted a layup (1:58 remaining) to cut the deficit down to one point.

Winthrop went 4-of-6 from the free throw line the rest of the way with a late basket by Myers providing the final margin in the CSU loss.

Godfrey posted her first double-double of season as the sophomore forward added a career-high 11 rebounds to go with her 16 points. She was 5-of-5 from the field in the third quarter and 3-of-3 from the three-point line during the stretch.

Since the early matchup, the Bucs fell in back-to-back contests to Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb, while the Eagles (9-11, 6-5 Big South) also suffered a two-game skid with back-to-back losses to UNC Asheville and High Point.

In CSU's last matchup, it was Tori Gittens highlighting the Bucs play inside Paul Porter Arena as CSU fell to the Runnin' Bulldogs 67-45. Gardner-Webb took advantage of CSU turnovers to put together 37 points and offset a Gittens' 10-point performance in the win.

CSU was plagued with 15 turnovers in the first half that resulted in 21 GWU points as the Runnin' Bulldogs held the 40-20 lead at the halftime break. The Runnin' Bulldogs hit 8-of-18 from the three-point line in the first half and utilized a 19-0 run in the first quarter in building the lead. The Bucs were able to cut the game back to within 17, but that was as close as CSU came in the Big South loss.

Winthrop's last game was marred by a Big South record-performance by High Point's Camryn Brown as the Panthers topped the Eagles, 94-61. Brown scored a conference-record 44 points with 26 coming in the second half in the Eagles loss. Maleeah
Langstaff highlighted Winthrop's efforts with 15 points and five boards in the loss.

CSU continues to look to its big three of Tierra Steede, Carmella Walker, and Sharity Godfrey to pace the Bucs in the 2019-20 season. Steede leads CSU with 11.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while adding 15 blocked shots on the year. Walker is second with 10.4 points, while adding a team-leading 39 steals. Godfrey's 9.7 points are third on the squad, while the sophomore fills the stats sheet with 5.8 rebounds and a team-leading 20 three-pointers.

Sha'Mya Leigh (43) and Ahlea Myers (41) have been the Bucs' leading ball-handlers on the year and pace the team in assists, while Tori Gittens has been among the top deep-threats on the team with 19 three-pointers on the season.

For the Eagles, Jah'Che Whitfield paces Winthrop's scoring efforts on the year with 11.6 points per game on 45.8% shooting from the field. She adds a team-leading 52 assists and has added 19 steals to her name on the year.

Kem Nwabudu is averaging 9.0 points per game, but has stepped up her scoring average to 10.1 in conference play on the season. Anika Riley is the team's leading rebounder with 6.6 boards per game, while Miquela Santoro is the three-point threat with 21 on the season.

Up Next
Charleston Southern welcomes Radford to the Buc Dome on Saturday, February 8, as a part of a triple-header of events on the CSU campus this weekend. The Bucs tipoff with the Highlanders at 3 p.m. with the game scheduled to be carried live on ESPN3.