GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women's basketball team officially starts the 2014-15 season Friday heading to Clemson, S.C. for a non-conference tilt against Clemson. Tipoff inside the Little John Coliseum is scheduled for noon and the game will be streamed live online for free.
The Spartans will finish the weekend with a trip to Charleston, S.C. to face the College of Charleston Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. inside TD Arena.
The Tigers lead the all-time series holding a 5-1 record, including a 77-71 victory last season in Fleming Gymnasium. Then sophomore guard Lucy Mason (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee Charter) led all scorers with 20 points on 5-for-13 shooting and dished out a team-high five assists in the defeat. In a close game, Mason scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half and was 9-for-11 from the free throw line.
Sunday's matchup will mark the 38th meeting between College of Charleston and the Spartans. UNCG holds a 23-14 advantage, including an eight-point win last season in Greensboro 64-56 on Nov. 23. Mason led the Spartans with 18 points on 4-for-10 shooting and was a solid 8-for-12 from the free throw line. The UNCG defense held the Cougars to 29 percent from the field and only 7-for-20 from the three-point line.
The Blue and Gold have a 20-25 overall record in season openers but have lost four-straight dating back to 2010 where they lost at Clemson, 71-55, four years ago. The Spartans return 74 percent of their scoring from a season ago with junior guard Mason leading the way at 13.3 points per game along with 3.3 assists per contest. Mason was named a preseason All-Southern Conference selection and comes into the season just 213 points away from becoming the 24th player in school history with 1,000 career points.
Also returning is seniors Jarae Savage (Marietta, Ga./North Cobb) and Jessica Collins (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield/Eckerd College). Savage was third on the team pulling down 140 total rebounds good for 4.7 per game and Collins scored 91 points (3.1 points per game).
After only losing one starter from last season, three juniors return in Jazmine Missouri (Largo, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross), Medena Bartley (Savannah, Ga./Beach) and Mason. Missouri played in 25 games at guard scoring 74 points and had 24 assists. Bartley played in six games as a sophomore.
Six sophomores return to the fold as guards Bailey Williams (Harrisonburg, Va./Spotswood), Whitney Coleman (Cary, N.C./Cary), Shanese Harris (Chesapeake, Va/Western Branch), forwards Jade Scaife (Fort Washington, Md./Archbishop Spalding), India Timpton (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) and center Mariah Wilson (Atlanta, Ga./North Atlanta. Williams led the team 38 made threes and a team-best 109 assists. Coleman played in 22 games and scored 45 points. Harris played in all 30 games, starting 20 averaging 5.2 points per game. Scaife was second in total rebounds with 143 (4.8 per game) and scored 154 points (5.1 per game). Timpton played in 28 games, starting 10 scoring 47 total points. Wilson led the team with 32 blocks, while pulling down 60 total rebounds.
The four-member freshman class joins the program adding two guards and two forwards/centers to the mix. Keli Foster (Hampton, Va./Bethel) and Jayda Luckie (Norfolk, Va./Maury) are both from Virginia and played for the same AAU team the Norfolk XPress. Allison Whitman (Madison, W.Va./Scott) and Skye Jefferson (Richmond, Va./Cosby) will both add size as both are 6'3 and 6'2 respectively.
Clemson is coming off a disappointing year after going 13-19 and 4-12 in the ACC during the 2013-14 campaign. Senior guard Nikki Dixon, who made the ACC preseason All-Conference team, leads the Tigers. Dixon averaged 13.7 points per game overall, and enters 2014-15 17th on Clemson's all-time scoring list with 1,141 points. Clemson enters with a lot of size in the frontcourt as five players are 6'0 or taller.
CofC is coming off a 19-15 season that included going 9-7 in the CAA conference. The Cougars played three post-season games going 2-1 in the WBI Invitational falling to Stephen F. Austin in the semifinals. The Cougars have a new coach in Candice Jackson after Natasha Adair left to take the head-coaching job at Georgetown. Former assistant coach at UNCG Darren Guensch accepted the assistant coach job in May. Senior post player Mikaela Hopkins was named preseason All-Conference in the CAA. College of Charleston returns 11 players from a season ago.
After opening the season with back-to-back road games, UNCG will host USC Upstate Thursday, Nov. 20 in its home opener inside Fleming Gym at 7 p.m.
Follow the UNCG women's basketball team all season long by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans official Twitter feeds @uncgsports/@uncgwbb
- UNCG -
