JOHNSON CITY, TENN. - The Gardner-Webb women's basketball team (12-19, 9-7 Big South) battled valiantly throughout the game and the season, but saw its 2025-26 campaign come to an end on Thursday afternoon, falling 64-52 to Winthrop (15-16, 7-9 Big South) in the quarterfinal round of the 2026 Air Force Reserve Big South Basketball Championships

On the floor for their third match-up of the season, Gardner-Webb and Winthrop each battled through some offensive struggles to a 13-9 first quarter score. GWU trailed for most of the frame following the first media timeout, but junior guard Amina Gray knocked down a huge three at the buzzer to give the Runnin' Bulldogs a much needed boost

And GWU found that boost, outscoring Winthrop 15-11 in the second quarter. The Runnin' Bulldogs got key contributions from its upperclassmen, with redshirt senior Jaelyn Acker knocking down her first triple at 5:10, and graduate guard Anna Baraldi scoring her first points of the afternoon at 3:40. A pair of late free throws from freshman guard Makayla Legette saw Gardner-Webb take a 24-24 tie into halftime

Always tough to separate teams in the 4-5 game and Thursday was no different, with Gardner-Webb entering the fourth quarter down just a point after the teams traded big baskets in the third. Gray really got going with a pair of threes inside the first three minutes that briefly put the Dawgs in front, 34-32. Legette also delivered some clutch points late in the third with a baseline jumper, as GWU trailed 44-43 with 10 minutes to play

Outscoring Gardner-Webb 20-9 in the fourth, Winthrop used its advantage in the paint to pull away. The No. 5 seed Eagles shot just 6-of-13 in the fourth, but combined that with a 22-8 advantage on the offensive glass for the game, while holding the Dawgs to just three made field goals in the fourth. Legette added a late free throw for the final Gardner-Webb points, as the season came to an end with a 64-52 defeat in Johnson City

LEADERS
Gray finished the game with a team-high 11 points, while junior guard Anaya Harris added 10 points. Acker posted eight points and a pair of made threes, while junior forward Amira Ofunniyin scored seven points and pulled down 13 rebounds, nearly 42% of the total rebounds GWU had for the game

FROM HEAD COACH TERRI WILLIAMS
I would just say thank you. Absolutely thank you. (Our Gardner-Webb family) they had our back from day one, coming to the games, just being there for us. The texts and the phone calls after every game, they definitely backed us up, from our churches to our fans, everybody really bought into what I wanted to do as a head coach and the team that we had to continue to feed into them. So just thank you to our Gardner well family, they have been great (this season)