CLINTON, S.C. – Following the announcement of the postponement of its series against UNC Asheville on Saturday, the Presbyterian College women's basketball team heads back out on the road to face Charleston Southern on Monday and Tuesday.
Matchup: Presbyterian (3-3, 2-2) at Charleston Southern (4-2, 2-0)
Date: Monday and Tuesday, January 4-5
Time: 7:00 pm / 6:00 pm
Site: Buccaneer Field House (Charleston, S.C.)
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Twitter: @bluehosewbb
Notes
A Change in Plans...
On Saturday, the Big South Conference announced the postponement of the series between PC and UNC Asheville due to COVID-19 concerns within the Asheville program. Instead, the Blue Hose head south to face Charleston Southern, who is tied for first after a 2-0 start to conference play.
Last Time Out...
Presbyterian is coming off of a split at Radford in its first road conference series of the campaign. In the opener, Tionna Carter led all scorers with a season-best 19 points and the Blue Hose held Radford to 26.2 percent shooting on their way to a 62-51 victory. Nyah Willis (12 points, 10 rebounds) registered her first double-double as a Blue Hose, as PC snapped an eight-game skid against Radford, and a seven-game losing streak at the Dedmon Center. In game two, Presbyterian led for much of the first half and built a nine-point advantage in the third quarter, but the Highlanders rallied to edge PC 61-55. In the loss, Jade Compton tallied her first double-double of the year, netting 20 points, the most by a Blue Hose this season, and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Scouting the Buccaneers...
Charleston Southern enters the series riding a three-game winning streak, and is tied with Campbell atop the conference after a sweep of Hampton back on Dec. 21-22. Following the sweep, CSU claimed both of the league's weekly awards, with Sharita Godfrey named Player of the Week and Makenna Winans earning Freshman of the Week. The Blue Hose (58.2 ppg) and Buccaneers (60.0 ppg) are second and third, respectively, in the conference in scoring defense. PC swept the season series last year, and has won on each of its last two visits to Charleston.
The Double-Double Trio...
With the double-doubles by Nyah Willis and Jade Compton in PC's series at Radford, the Blue Hose have had three different players record double-doubles so far this season. Willis scored 12 points and snagged 10 rebounds in the series-opening victory over the Highlanders, while Compton poured in a season-best 20 points and snatched 11 rebounds in the finale. The duo joins Tionna Carter among Blue Hose with double-doubles, with Carter having registered a pair earlier in the campaign at ETSU (16 points, 14 rebounds) and in the Big South opener against Gardner-Webb (16 points, 12 rebounds).
Cleaning the Glass...
Since the season-opening loss at Clemson, PC has won the rebounding battle in five straight games. The Blue Hose rank third in the Big South in rebounds per game (42.2) and second in rebounding margin (+3.8/game). Presbyterian also boasts three of the top-10 rebounders in the conference in Tionna Carter (3rd, 9.0), Jade Compton (8th, 7.3) and Nyah Willis (10th, 7.2).
Among the Leaders...
Tionna Carter leads PC in both scoring (12.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.0 rpg), ranking ninth and third, respectively, in the Big South in those categories. The sophomore sits fourth in field goal percentage (.475) and sixth in free throw percentage (.818). After her season-high seven-assist performance at Radford, Trinity Johnson is averaging 3.2 per game, fifth in the conference. Freshman guard Maleia Bracone tops the Blue Hose in steals and is sixth in the league, averaging 1.8 per contest.
Defense Fueling the Fire...
As a team, Presbyterian boasts the second-best scoring defense in the conference, allowing just 58.2 points per game, while its opponent's .338 field goal percentage is the second-lowest in the league. After holding Radford to 26.2 percent from the field in game one of the series, PC has held its opponents under 30 percent shooting on three occasions this season.
100 3's Club...
Two Blue Hose sharpshooters are within striking distance of making the 100th three-pointer of their collegiate careers. Junior guard Shamani Stafford (93) sits seven shy of the milestone, while senior forward Tess Santos (92) needs eight triples to reach 100. Seven other Blue Hose have reached 100 career three-pointers in the program's DI era, with Karlee Taylor making a record 264 from 2010-14.
COVID Concerns Affecting Schedule...
The postponement of PC's Jan. 4-5 series against UNC Asheville and subsequent rescheduling of its series against CSU (moved up from Feb. 19-20) pushed the number of games affected by COVID-19 to seven for the Blue Hose. Presbyterian had its originally scheduled season opener on Nov. 25 at Kennesaw State canceled after positive tests within the KSU program, and then their games at Furman (Dec. 1) and against Mercer (Dec. 10) canceled after COVID-19 concerns within their own program.
Back in Blue...
Coach Sharp brought back four starters from last year's squad, with Tionna Carter (30 GP/19 GS), Jade Compton (30 GP/28 GS), Trinity Johnson (29 GP/29 GS) and Tess Santos (30 GP/28 GS) all back in the fold. In total, the Blue Hose returned 10 letterwinners, which accounted for 77 percent of their scoring in 2019-20. Among those back are the team's top three scorers from a year ago in Johnson (15.2 ppg), Carter (8.9 ppg) and Compton (8.2 ppg).
New Kids on the Block...
Coach Sharp brought five newcomers into the fold for the 2020-21 season, four freshmen and one transfer. Center Aaliyah Austin (Satsuma, Ala.) and guards Sabrina Belquist (Los Gatos, Calif.), Maleia Bracone (Anderson, S.C.) and Kelsey Brown (Simpsonville, S.C.) make up PC's incoming freshman class, while sophomore guard Nyah Willis (San Jose, Calif.) joins the Blue Hose as a transfer from Chabot College in Hayward, Calif.
