CHARLESTON, S.C. - Despite jumping out to 13-2 lead in the first quarter, the Charleston Southern women's basketball team dropped a home-conference game to the USC Upstate Spartans by a 71-67 score inside the Buc Dome on Wednesday. 

Alba Garcia was the leading scorer for the Bucs (4-10, 2-11 in conference), as she scored 11 points on 3/4 shooting from beyond the arc. Two other Buccaneers scored in the double digits as well, as Catherine Alben and Sha'Mya Leigh both scored 10 points. Madison Adamson led the Bucs with three steals and seven rebounds. 

First Half
The Bucs raced out to a 13-2 lead with 2:56 left in the first quarter. Jazmine Jackson and Leigh both hit three-pointers, and the Bucs were 4/4 from the free throw line during that span. After that, USC Upstate went on a run. They went on a 7-2 run to end the first quarter and carried that momentum into the second.

Both team struggled to score in the beginning of the second quarter but the Spartans tied it up at 17 with 6:17 left in the first half. They took their first lead of the game after hitting on a three with 5:27 left to go up 20-19. The Bucs quickly answered with a three from Zaire Hicks. The Spartans finished the half out-scoring the Bucs 7-3 to take a four-point lead into the locker room. 

Second Half
USC Upstate came out of halftime firing, as they jumped out to an eight-point lead with 7:50 left in the third quarter  to take a 41-33 lead and force a timeout. The Bucs were able to cut the deficit to four with back-to-back leads from Garcia and Adamson with 3:45 left, but that was as close as they were able to get it, as the Spartans stretched the lead out to 10 to end the quarter. 

The Spartans' lead stretch to as high as 12 in the beginning of the quarter, but the Bucs were able to cut the deficit to four after a pair of three's from Garcia made it 58-54 with 7:36 left in the fourth quarter. After Kennedi Jackson hit the first free throw, she got the rebound and the put back to cut it to within one point with 5:51 left. Then, the Spartans pushed the lead back out to five points. 

The Bucs picked up their first lead of the second half when Alben made a jumper to go up 63-62 with just over two minutes left. The Bucs maintained that lead until the Spartans hit a layup with 37 seconds lft to go up by one. CSU had a chance at the end, but a pair of turnovers led to free throws, ending the Spartans four-game losing streak. 

Next Up
Charleston Southern will hit the road on Saturday for an afternoon matchup with the Radford Highlanders. This will be the second time that these two teams face off this season. The Highlanders took the first one 60-46 back on January 15^th. The game will start at 2 p.m. and stream on ESPN+.