GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women's basketball team (8-10, 0-3 SoCon) travels to Chattanooga (12-5, 3-0 SoCon) for a 2 p.m. tip-off Saturday, January 16. The Spartans are looking for their first league win of the season and first against the Mocs since January 2, 2007, when UNCG defeated Chattanooga 71-68.
The Spartans are averaging SoCon-leading 67.9 points per game backed by senior captain Lucy Mason's (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee Charter) 23.9 points per game. Jade Scaife (Fort Washington, Md./Archbishop Spalding) is second with 9.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while Shanese Harris (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) is third in scoring with 9.1 points per game.
The Spartans are shooting 39.3 percent from field goal range this season and 35.9 percent in conference play. In UNCG's three conference games, opponents are averaging 77.3 points per game and 48.1 percent from the floor. The Spartans have struggled from three-point range in league action shooting 23.3 percent on 7-of-20 shooting from downtown.
UNCG is out-rebounding its league opponents by two rebounds per game, 39.7-37.7 on average. UNCG leads the SoCon in offensive rebounds per game (15.5) and rebounding margin (+2.4), The Spartans also rank at the top of the SoCon in steals per game (9.6) this season.
Chattanooga is at the top of the league with a 40.8 field goal percentage. They also lead in three-point field goal defence (25.5 percent) and blocked shots (6.0), Jasmine Joyner leads the Mocs with 11.9 points per game and a league-leading 69 blocked shots (4.05 per game). Joyner also is the leading rebounder on the squad with 9.1 boards per game. Second on the team in scoring is Keiana Gilbert who has 11.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Chelsea Shumpert is the third Moc averaging double figures with 10.7 points per game.
In league play, all three are averaging double figures with the addition of Alicia Payne tallying 10.7 ppg through UTC's three SoCon games thus far. In league action the Mocs are averaging 47.3 percent from the field and holding opponents to 33.5 percent from the floor. The Mocs are coming off a 77-59 home win over Western Carolina last Wednesday night.
UNCG is 6-37 all-time against Chattanooga. Saturday's meeting will mark the 44th meeting between the two teams. The Spartans are 3-16 on the road at UTC with the Mocs winning the last eight match ups inside McKenzie Arena. UNCG is looking to end Chattanooga's three-game home win streak. The Mocs are 8-1 at home this season with their only loss coming by the hands of No. 1 Connecticut.
Fans can watch Saturday's 2 p.m. tip-off live on the SoCon Digital network of by following live stats, which can be found on UNCGSpartans.com. Don't forget to follow @uncgwbb and @uncgscores for in-game updates on Twitter.
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