BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb women's basketball team (2-4, 0-0 Big South) made it back-to-back wins for the first time this season on Wednesday night, using a strong defensive effort and late offensive surge to beat UNC Wilmington (1-3, 0-0 CAA) by a final of 65-56

It was truly a story of how you finish on Wednesday night inside Paul Porter Arena, with Gardner-Webb finding itself in an 8-0 hole after just 1:30 of game time. Part of what turned into a career-best night, junior forward Amira Ofunniyin helped GWU crawl back into the game with the next two buckets. When junior guard Amina Gray splashed in a three with under a minute to play in the first quarter, the Runnin' Bulldogs had pulled the contest back to a 13-13 tie

Into the second quarter, freshman guard Makayla Legette drove to score and give Gardner-Webb its first lead with 8:15 until halftime. Three huge buckets from senior guard Nyla Walker over a stretch of 2:30 helped extend that lead, before redshirt senior guard Jaelyn Acker put a bow on the half. Just 1.7 seconds before the halftime, Acker was fouled on a corner three. She'd convert all three attempts that followed, handing GWU a 31-26 halftime lead

Gardner-Webb opened up its biggest lead of the night midway through the third quarter. After Legette went coast to coast to put GWU up 10, Acker buried another triple at 4:21 to put the Runnin' Bulldogs in front 42-29. Despite shooting just 4-of-12 in the third, the Seahawks clawed back to make it a game again with an 8-0 run, and Gardner-Webb took a 42-37 lead into the fourth

UNCW got as close as a point with 8:26 to go in the fourth, but the Runnin' Bulldogs were able to hang on and eventually secure the victory. While defense continues to be the story for GWU, the offense picked up in a big way in the fourth quarter with the Dawgs scoring 23 points, hitting six field goals, two three-pointers and going 9-of-11 at the stripe. At the line in the fourth, Gardner-Webb got contributions from Walker, Ofunniyn, Gray, Legette and freshman forward Sara Menendez, including its last six points in a 65-56 win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Gardner-Webb was excellent on defense, holding UNCW to 36.6% from the floor (18-of-49) while forcing 31 turnovers, recording 19 steals and scoring 27 points off those turnovers, the Runnin' Bulldogs also finished with a wide 34-12 advantage in points in the paint

LEADERS
Ofunniyin posted the best game of her college career scoring 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting and eight rebounds, Gray continued an excellent week with 16 points on 6-of-12 from the deck, six rebounds and four steals, and Walker became the third double-digit scorer for Gardner-Webb with 13 points, two assists, four steals

UP NEXT
The Runnin' Bulldogs are back in action on Friday night, visiting UNC Greensboro for a 7 pm tip-off on the road