Spartanburg, S.C. - Senior forward Jessica Conner (Cocoa, Fla.) scored a career-high 25 points on 80% field goal shooting to lead the Stetson women's basketball team (6-8, 2-3 Atlantic Sun) to a 74-65 win at USC Upstate (7-6, 4-1 A-Sun) Saturday evening. The Hatters scored 10 unanswered points in two minutes late in the second half to hand the Spartans their first conference loss of the season and win at the Hodge Center for the first time in three tries in series history.
Stetson controlled the pace of play for much of the first half, leading by as many as 10 points. The Spartans would seize momentum, however, using a 17-0 run across halftime to lead 30-28 at the break and 35-28 with one minute gone by in the second half.
Although USC Upstate would stretch its lead to six with just over 10 minutes remaining, Stetson came right back with back-to-back three-pointers from freshman forward Sasha Sims (Fayetteville, Ga.) and sophomore guard Victoria Mcgowan (Inkster, Mich.) to tie the game 47-47; each assisted on the other's triple.
Lauren McRoberts drained a three-pointer on the next Spartan possession to put the hosts up 50-47 with 8:52 to play, but the Hatters would then take permanent control with a 10-0 run. Conner and senior center Natasha Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) used their inside presence to draw fouls and score seven of those points while Sims put the exclamation point on the spurt with a trifecta at the 5:29 mark that made it 57-50 in Stetson's favor.
The Hatters would not let the Spartans closer than four points the rest of the way, making 10 straight free throws to close the game out. Conner needed just 10 shots to score 25 points, going 8-10 from the floor and 9-12 from the foul line; she also grabbed five rebounds. Conner was able to surpass her old career high of 24 points, set in a Feb. 28, 2009 loss at Campbell. McGowan finished with 19 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals while senior guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) added 13 points, a season-high seven rebounds and five assists. Graboski and Sims each grabbed eight rebounds, a career high for the latter. Stetson won at the Hodge Center for the first time in three tries.
Tee'Ara Copney scored 17 points to lead USC Upstate, which also got a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double from A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year Chelsea McMillan in addition to four steals. Kyana Jacobs tied for the game high with five assists.
Stetson will travel to Johnson City, Tenn. to take on three-time defending A-Sun champions ETSU at 4:45 p.m. Monday. Hatter Vision subscribers will get ETSU's ASun.TV feed; links to Game Tracker are available at GoHatters.com. The Stetson-ETSU men's contest will follow the women at approximately 7 p.m.
STETSON SOCIAL MEDIA
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