SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women's basketball team utilized a strong and balanced offensive effort Thursday night against Erskine to earn its first win of the season, 85-47, inside Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The Terriers move to 1-1 on the season, and Erskine remains 0-0 as it was an exhibition for the Division II Flying Fleet.
 
"Obviously it's always good to play in front of your own crowd, and I thought we had a really good crowd. It really energized us, and it was a good home opener for us," said head coach Jimmy Garrity. "[Erskine] is a team that played us really well last year – it was tied in the third quarter. And this year I thought we just did an excellent job with the mental approach to this game and what it means. And it's always good to play a lot of players. Our new players getting minutes will pay dividends for us down the road."
 
Wofford shot 45.2 percent in the contest and 30.4 percent from three, topping Erskine in both marks as the Fleet tallied 22.2 and 22.0 percent, respectively. The Terriers also won the rebounding battle, 54-42. The 54 boards are the most for Wofford since setting the program record of 69 in January of 2021, also against Erskine. The Terrier defense forced 22 turnovers with Wofford committing 14 itself, and those 22 Fleet miscues led to 21 extra points and 13 via the fast break. Wofford also controlled the paint with 42 points to just 10 for Erskine.
 
"We've done a good job of scoring the ball, and when we run our stuff and we spread you out a little bit, we get paint touches – and we did an excellent job of getting paint touches tonight and spreading the ball," said Garrity of the offensive success. "And at the end of the day you've got to knock them down, and we did a good job of that."
 
The Terriers used a balanced scoring effort with four in double figures. Freshman Maddie Heiss led the way with 21 points in just her second collegiate game. She shot 8-of-15 from the field with three triples, adding four boards and a steal. Heiss is the first Wofford freshman to post a 20-piece since Niyah Lutz (21) and Jackie Carman (20) each tallied one against Southern Wesleyan in January of 2019.
 
"It came from my teammates creating for me, honestly," said Heiss of her performance. "And then just making the shots that I need to make and not putting too much pressure on myself.
 
"I think it just comes from our hard work that we put in outside of practice," added Heiss of the team's offensive attack. "All of our girls are getting in the gym, getting shots up, and it translates."
 
Sophomore Indiya Clarke posted her first-career double-double, the first for a Terrier this season, behind 16 points and 10 boards. Both marks are new career highs. She was 6-of-7 from the field and dished three assists, also a career best.
 
"The coaches' goal for me is always to have the most rebounds on the court, and that's just something that I've been working towards," said Clarke of her career night. "And I think the points just kind of go with it. When I'm crashing the boards, I'm more confident in other aspects of it, so I think it all just started with those rebounds."
 
Freshman Vitolia Tuilave added 14 points, all the first of her career. She also notched eight boards. Junior Rachael Rose rounds out the double-digit scorers with 12 points, adding five rebounds and a team-leading six assists.
 
Freshman Evangelia Paulk scored seven, as did senior Ja'Rae Smith. Paulk added eight boards, and Smith dished five assists. Senior Annabelle Schultz and Freshman Sara Deidda each scored four. Schultz tallied nine boards and two steals to tie Smith for the team lead. Deidda contributed four boards. Freshman Yinka Kruyswijk made her collegiate debut with six rebounds and an assist.
 
Wofford won the opening tip, and Maddie Heiss immediately put home a jumper just 18 seconds into the contest to set a tone for the night. The Terriers tallied the first nine points of the night, seven of which came from Heiss with the other two by Rachael Rose. Erskine would attempt to fight back, pulling within six points twice, but the Terriers recorded six of the final nine points of the quarter to lead 20-11 after 10 minutes of play.
 
The defenses opened strong in the second quarter with the first points coming from Rachael Rose at the 7:47 mark. But that sparked the Terriers, who exploded offensively from there. The Terriers totaled 25 points in the second quarter, their most of any quarter in the game, and Erskine did not score until the clock showed 3:47, ending what became a 17-point run for Wofford. Despite Erskine managing nine points in the final four minutes of the frame, Indiya Clarke swished a pair of three-pointers to send Wofford into the halftime break ahead 45-20.
 
Evangelia Paulk opened the second half with a jumper, and Vitolia Tuilave took charge from there with the next six Terrier points. A Paulk layup at the 3:50 mark pushed the Wofford lead to 30 (59-29), and though Erskine made efforts to pull the margin back under 30, Maddie Heiss' three and jumper in the final minute of the frame made sure Wofford led by 31, 65-34 after three quarters of action.
 
To begin the fourth, Ja'Rae Smith needed only 25 seconds to put home a layup after swiping a steal. After an Erskine bucket, Wofford rattled off the next seven points until a Fleet free throw with 5:27 remaining. The score stood at 74-37. The teams traded some blows from there until an Indiya Clarke trey at the 2:09 mark made the margin 40 points, 81-41. After some Erskine points, a pair of Smith free throws with eight seconds left gave Wofford another 40-plus lead, but the Fleet put home a three in the closing seconds to trim their final deficit below 40. However, the final score favored Wofford heavily, 85-47, for the Terriers' first victory of the season in the squad's home opener.
 
"It feels amazing, especially after starting the season off on a loss" said Clarke of the victory in the home opener. "But the culture and the vibes in Jerry Richardson (Indoor Stadium) are always amazing, so it was just a really good start to our season."
 
The three-game homestand continues on Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. match-up against UNCW. The contest is the middle game of a tripleheader inside Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, as the men's basketball team plays at noon, and the volleyball team hosts is Senior Night against ETSU in the nightcap at 7:00 p.m. All three events will be streamed on ESPN+.