Monday, November 27, 2006

Belmont Bruins
The Belmont women's basketball team (3-2, 0-0 A-Sun) came away with a third place finish at the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Tournament and lots of respect from their opponents. The Bruins fell in the opening round to No. 16/17 California, 69-52, and rebounded to take a buzzer beating win over Florida Atlantic, 67-65. Sophomore Alysha Clark was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 16.5 points per game and 10.0 rebounds over the two games. Junior Laura Cowley, who was almost perfect at the charity stripe, was the heroine of the FAU contest, knocking down two free throws with seven seconds on the clock to give Belmont the narrow 67-65 victory. This week, the Bruins open a four-game homestand at the Curb Event Center. BU opens with Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday before jumping into league play with North Florida and Jacksonville on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Campbell Fighting Camels
No team notes provided

ETSU Bucs
The Lady Bucs picked up their first win of the season last Tuesday night as they defeated Appalachian State, 104-87 in Memorial Center. The Lady Bucs had five players finish in double figures with freshman Siarre Evans leading the way with a career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Michele DeVault recorded her first career double-double as she added 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

Gardner-Webb Bulldogs
The Gardner-Webb women's basketball team dropped both games it had at the Junkanoo Jam Tournament in the Bahamas last week after downing South Carolina State on Nov. 21. Against SCSU, Brittany Harmon netted 17 points while Margaret Roundtree tallied 15 rebounds. The Bulldogs were led by Candyse Kelly's 15 points against No. 1 Maryland. Shameka Smith and Kelly each posted eight points in the loss to Northwestern. GWU returns to action on Saturday when it opens conference play at Campbell.

Jacksonville Dolphins
Proving last season wasn't a fluke, junior forward Ashley Williams set the program record for points in a game by tallying 32 at Charleston Southern on Nov. 13. A preseason all-conference selection, Williams made 14-of-16 shots from the floor (.875) and connected on 4-of-4 shots from the free-throw line. Williams followed that effort with a game-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds on Nov. 17 against South Carolina State Williams currently leads the conference with an average of 22.2 points and a .638 field-goal percentage.

Kennesaw State Owls
KSU won its only game of last week with a 71-45 victory at Wintrhop on Saturday night. Jennifer Baker led the Lady Owls with 20 points and five assists as KSU won consecutive games for the first time since the 2004-05 season. The Lady Owls are not allowing two of the things that plagued them a season ago to bother them this year. KSU currently sits second in the conference in scoring offense (70.0 ppg) and three-point percentage (.352). Conversely, the Lady Owls are winning on the boards as well, as they are out-rebounding their opponents by a league-leading 11.2 boards a game.

Lipscomb Bisons
The Lady Bisons finished the week 2-1 with wins over Fisk and Austin Peay and a two-point loss (57-55) to host Memphis in the championship game of the Lady Tiger Invitational. Center Penny Jones and point guard Catie Woods were both named to the Lady Tiger Classic All-Tournament team. The Lady Bisons set three school records in the NCAA era in their 93-35 win over Fisk last Monday night. The 93 points were the most the Lady Bisons have scored in a game, besting the 92 they scored against Fisk Dec. 7, 2004. The 35 points were the lowest allowed by the Lady Bisons since giving up 37 against Jacksonville last season. The nine first half points scored by Fisk were also the lowest by an opponent. Penny Jones grabbed a season-high 11rebounds in the loss to Memphis.

Mercer Bears
Saturday’s game against Bethune-Cookman featured a plethora of career achievements for the Bears. Nicole Leonard posted her first career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. She tied a career mark in points and set a benchmark for rebounds. Rhonda Owens registered a career-high 14 points and tied a career-best with six steals in the win while Erin Keller tied her career-high with six assists. Mercer concludes its season-opening, five-game road trip Monday with a visit to Savannah State. The Bears open Atlantic Sun Conference play at home Thursday against ETSU, which marks the first time Mercer has opened its A-Sun schedule at home since the 2001-02 season.

UNF Ospreys
UNF finished the week 0-2 at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic over the weekend, falling to the host Panthers and Villanova. Antoinette Reames scored a career high 11 points against Villanova after opening the tournament with four blocks against FIU. Reames had six blocks in all over the weekend and is now fifth on the all-time UNF blocks list. Along with Reames, Jennifer Guldager also scored in double figures against Villanova, scoring 10 points. The Lady Ospreys will open conference action this week at defending A-Sun champion Belmont before traveling to Lipscomb.

Stetson Hatters
No team notes provided