Box Score Due West, S.C. – Erskine opened the new year with an 88 to 81 road win over in-state rival Southern Wesleyan University in non-conference women's basketball action at Tysinger Gymnasium.  With their third win in a row, Erskine improves to 5-4 on the season while SWU drops to 3-7 overall.

Freshman Kristin Giles (Union, SC, Union County High School) poured in a career-high 33 points to lead the Flying Fleet, who had ten players score on the night.  Junior forward Andrienne Bannerman (Wilmington, NC, Pender High School) posted her first double-double of the season scoring 14 points while pulling down a 13 rebounds.  She also had 3 blocks and 2 steals to fill up the stat sheet.  Freshman Raygon Hendrix (Summerville, SC, Pinewood Preparatory School) also reached double-digits with 10 points and senior Jana Dixon (Conyers, GA, Heritage High School) came off the bench to grab a game-high 14 rebounds as Erskine dominated the boards 54 to 41.

Erskine squandered two first half leads, including a 16 advantage, before seizing the lead permanently midway through the second half.  Erskine scored the game's first seven points only to see SWU use an 8-0 run aided by two Fleet turnovers to take their first lead of the game at 8 to 7.  Erskine countered with their own 8-0 run, six points coming from Giles, and eventually extended their lead to 16 points with a little under five minutes to play to the opening period.  After trimming the Fleet lead to just six points at intermission, SWU opened the second half going 6 for 6 from the floor to regain the lead for the final time.  Erskine's Haleigh Spaulding (Ocala, FL, Vanguard High School)converted an old-fashion 3-point play to put the Fleet up for good midway through the final period.

SWU was led by Chelsie Waters and Briana Seda, who each scored 17 points. 

Erskine will look to extend their streak to four games this Saturday against local conference rival North Greenville University.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.