GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women's basketball team (8-13, 0-6 SoCon) travels to Western Carolina (5-15, 1-5 SoCon) Saturday for the final game of the first half of league play. The Spartans are set to tip-off against the Catamounts at 2 p.m. on the SoCon Digital Network. Saturday's game marks the 61st meeting between the two teams in program history. WCU leads the all-time series 25-35 and has won the last nine meetings.
The Spartans are 9-16 all-time against the Catamounts on the road and have fallen to 0-4 on the road during head coach Wendy Palmer's reign. The last time UNCG defeated Western Carolina was February 7, 2011 in a 57-53 victory inside Fleming Gymnasium. The last road victory over WCU was January 3, 2011 when the Spartans defeated Western Carolina 56-50 in Cullowhee, N.C.
Senior Lucy Mason (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee Charter) continues to pace the Spartans offense this season. She has been the leading scorer in 20 of UNCG's 21 games and her 23.4 points per game leads the Southern Conference and ranks sixth in the nation. Mason also leads the SoCon in free throw percentage (.807). During her career, she is averaging 12.6 points per game against the Catamounts in seven games.
Juniors India Timpton (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) and Jade Scaife (Fort Washington, Md./Archbishop Spalding) rank fifth and sixth in the SoCon in rebounds per game pulling down 7.4 and 7.2 boards, respectively. Shanese Harris (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) is coming off three consecutive games in which she scored double figures.
Western Carolina is 5-15 overall and 1-5 in the SoCon sitting just one spot in front of the Spartans in league standings. Leading the Catamounts offensively is Ace Easter who averages 12.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and ranks seventh in the SoCon in scoring. In league play, Easter is averaging 17.3 ppg while Sherae Bonner and Lindsay Simpson average 10.2 and 10.0 points per game, respectively. As a team, WCU is second in the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage (.299) and is averaging 6.5 treys per game.
Fans can watch Saturday's game live on the SoCon Digital Network at 2 p.m. Live stats will be available at UNCGSpartans.com.
