Monday, January 24, 2011

Spartanburg, S.C. – USC Upstate's Chelsea McMillan was named the A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year prior to the start of the season. Monday night against Lipscomb, in a game that kicked off the conference's CSS Women's Basketball Game of the Week, the senior post player showed why she garnered such high praise. She finished with a double-double in a sensational second half performance to lead the Spartans over the Lady Bisons, 77-70, in the Hodge Center.

The game was the first-ever women's basketball game televised from the Hodge Center and just the third in the history of the men's and women's programs combined at Upstate. The win by the Spartans Monday night was the first-ever win by either team on television in the Hodge Center.

Upstate improved to 10-8 overall and 6-3 in the A-Sun with the win, while Lipscomb fell to 7-12 overall and 4-6 in the conference.

McMillan (East Gadsden, Fla.) was a force down low in the second half as the Spartans turned to her to lead them to victory. She finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds for her ninth double dip of the season and the 31st of her career. She had 18 points and 11 rebounds in the second half alone.

"We told them coming out of timeouts in the second half that we were going to win or lose with Chelsea," said Upstate head coach Tammy George. "Our offense runs through her. She is going to have to make decisions whether she kicks the ball out when she is double-teamed or score on her own. She put us on her back tonight and said 'we're going to win' and she did just that."

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