January 2, 2011

UNCG (6-5, 3-0 SoCon) at Western Carolina (3-9, 1-2 SoCon), Jan. 3, 7 p.m., Ramsey Center, Cullowhee, N.C.

LiveStats: Gametracker
Audio: CatamountSports.com

UNCG at Western Carolina game notes

Storylines

• First-place UNCG will try for its fourth straight Southern Conference win and fifth straight overall when it takes on Western Carolina on Monday in Cullowhee, N.C.

• With wins in four straight games and six of their last eight, the Spartans are one of the hottest teams in the SoCon. Only Georgia Southern, which also has four straight wins, can claim an active winning streak as long as UNCG's current one.

• Monday's contest will be UNCG's second in a stretch of five games in 11 days.

• Western Carolina holds a 26-23 lead in the all-time series against UNCG. The Spartans took two of the three meetings last season, as the teams split two regular-season contests before UNCG picked up a 57-55 win in the first round of the SoCon Championship.

• In the last meeting between the teams, UNCG's Lakiah Hyson hit a pair of free throws with 18.1 seconds left to snap a 55-all tie and the ninth-seeded Spartans got a crucial stop on the other end to take a two-point win over No.8 seed Western Carolina in the first round of the SoCon Championship on March 4, 2010. Hyson and WCU's Emily Clarke each finished with a game-high 20 points.

• The Spartans took a 59-58 win over Davidson on Friday to run their record to 3-0 in the SoCon. Amanada Leigh scored a game-high 18 points and Janae' Stevenson, who had 12 points, hit three free throws in the last 2 minutes to put UNCG ahead to stay. The game featured 10 ties and 16 lead changes, and neither team led by more than seven points.

• UNCG's nine turnovers at Davidson on Friday were its fewest since having just three at Samford on Jan. 30, 2010.

• Senior Monique Floyd is the reigning SoCon Player of the Week after averaging 19.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in a pair of wins over Wofford and Furman. Floyd is also the reigning SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week.

• UNCG is looking for its first five-game winning streak since taking five straight from Dec. 2-21, 2008.

• The Spartans are 3-0 in SoCon play for the second time in the last three seasons. UNCG opened conference play with wins over Elon, College of Charleston and Georgia Southern in 2008-09.

• Leigh and Floyd share the UNCG scoring lead with 13.7 points per game, while Leigh also leads the team with 1.7 steals per game and Floyd also paces the team with 3.8 assists per game. Stevenson leads the Spartans with 6.4 rebounds per game.

• Floyd has had two turnovers or fewer in each of her last eight contests and has none in her last two. Over that same span, Floyd, who isn't UNCG's point guard, has a team-best 33 assists. For the season, she has 42 assists to just 17 turnovers, good for a SoCon-leading 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.

• UNCG coach Lynne Agee needs just one win to reach 550 at UNCG. She is 549-300 in 30 seasons at the helm for the Spartans. Overall, she is 595-323 in her 33-year career and needs just five more wins to become just the 12th active coach to reach 600 wins. Agee is 12th among active coaches in terms of wins and is 20th among Div. I coaches all-time.

• Western Carolina has lost three straight after a two-game winning streak and enters Monday's contest 3-9 overall and 1-2 in the SoCon. Last time out, WCU fell at James Madison 82-47 despite a game-high 16 points from Clarke.

• WCU has played a pair of ranked ACC opponents this season, falling to North Carolina and Florida State, both ranked 14th at the time.

• The Catamounts are 0-6 at home so far this season.

• Kaila'Shea Menendez leads WCU in scoring with 10.2 points per game, while Caitlin Hollifield is second with 10.0 points per game. Janae' McKinney leads the Catamounts with 7.0 rebounds per contest.

• Western Carolina is last in SoCon in scoring margin, as the Catamounts are being outscored by 12.3 points per game. WCU is scoring 56.4 points per game and is surrendering 68.8 per game.

- UNCG -