CHARLESTON, S.C. – Catherine Alben made history on Wednesday night, as she reached the 1,000-point mark for her career, helping the Charleston Southern women's basketball team defeat the USC Upstate Spartans 62-58 inside the Buc Dome and win their third game in a row.
 
Needing just one more point to get to 1,000, Alben went to three free throw line with 27 seconds left in the third quarter and knocked them both down to become the 18^th Charleston Southern women's basketball player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point mark for a career. She is one of just five players to do so within the first three years of her career.
 
After struggling for much of the first quarter from the field, the Buccaneers (9-12, 5-3 in conference) found their stride at the end of the opening quarter with a three pointer from both Alben and Shimei Muhammad to take a two-point lead. The Buccaneers pushed their lead to five mid-way through the second quarter, as Caelan Ellis knocked down two three-pointers in a row to make it 25-20 with 4:00 left in the first half.
 
Charleston Southern continued their momentum in the second half and took their first double-digit lead of the game with a buzzer-beating triple from Ellis to make it 43-33 entering the final quarter. The Buccaneers continued their run and pushed their lead to 19 points with a triple from Alben with 6:55 to go.
 
Back came the Spartans (5-16, 2-6 in conference), who went on a 14-3 run over the course of four minutes and cut the deficit to eight points with just over two minutes to go. After a few Buccaneer turnovers, the Spartans closed the gap to 56-51 with just over a minute to go. Down the stretch, the Buccaneers were 6/7 from the charity strike and were able to survive a late surge from the Spartans.
 
After struggling to shoot the basketball the past few games, the Buccaneers were able to hit their stride tonight, as they went 10/26 from beyond the arc, including 4/9 in the fourth quarter. Alben was the leading scorer with 19 points, while Muhammad finished with 12 points. Madison Adamson led the team with 13 rebounds and tied with Alaina Nettles for the team lead in assists with four.
 
For the first time since 2018, the Buccaneers have won three conference games in a row during the regular season. In 2019, they won their final two games of the regular season as well as two games in the postseason. Charleston Southern looks to make it four wins in a row this Saturday, when they travel to Farmville, VA to take on Longwood at 2:00 PM. The Buccaneers will look to shake off their one-point loss against the Lancers from Jan. 4.