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Winthrop — Nearly every basket Winthrop or Monmouth scored came with some degree of pain.

This Mountain Valley Conference women’s basketball game was a lesson in physical fitness, with a 49-to-39 win Monday night that put the battered Ramblers out on top in this knocked-down neighborhood rivalry affair.

The fourth quarter was ultimately just a matter of the Ramblers (6-0) holding onto their lead. They held the Mustangs (3-3) in the final period where he had two field goals and on the offensive end he connected a trio of 3-pointers.

Winthrop’s senior guard Vera Littler had a team-high 13 points, including one in three, while Monmouth’s Caitlin Frost had a game-high 17 points. flame.

Q1 was little more than a preview of a game that quickly became physical. For about three minutes, Monmouth led 7–2 with him, but Winthrop quickly turned it around in his final two minutes of the quarter.

The Ramblers leveled with senior forward Ryan Sullivic’s two under goal goals to make it 7-7. Sophomore guard Madeline Wagner sank her two fouls on her shot, Littleler scored her 3-pointer, and Winthrop headed into the second quarter for her 12–9 lead. Frost scored his 6 of his 9 points for the Mustang.

The Ramblers carried their first quarter momentum into the second, building a sizeable lead before the Mustangs pulled it down to five points. But sophomore guard Ella Rais sank his 2 and turned it into his 3-point play from his throw line free. His 3-pointer for Rice gave Winthrop his 27-19 lead going into the second half.

Winthrop continued to dominate in the third quarter, building a 36-25 lead at one point with another Littler 3-pointer and sophomore forward Morgan Fixone’s 2-point inside-in-the-key at one point.

But the Mustangs were back in the contest after senior guard Holly Hunt scored a buzzer-beater layup to make it a 38-31 game.

Hunt backed up Frost’s scoring effort with nine points of her own.