Wednesday, December 14, 2011

MACON, Ga. - Seventeen women's basketball games are slated for play over the next six days including two league contests as USC Upstate travels to Stetson and FGCU on Saturday and Monday. Twelve contests can be seen on ASun.TV.

• North Florida’s Brittany Kirkland and FGCU’s Kelsey Jacobson continued to climb up the A-Sun career scoring charts. Kirkland currently sits in 36th place with 1,292 career points, while Jacobson is 81st with 1,035 points. Kirkland needs 10 points to pass USC Upstate’s Chelsea McMillan - the 2011 A-Sun Player of the Year.
• FGCU climbed to No. 4 in the CollegeInsider.com Women’s Mid-Major Poll from No. 6 in last week’s poll. It is the highest ranking of the season for the Eagles, who stand at 6-1 on the year.
• Kennesaw State’s Sametria Gideon and Belmont’s Haley Nelson are tied amongst active student-athletes for career double-doubles at 18. Nelson has three on the season, while Gideon - a junior - owns two early on. On the year, Nelson is averaging 13.8 PPG and 6.7 RPG, while Gideon is at 11.5 PPG and 9.1 RPG.
• Nelson and Gideon also appear in the A-Sun record books for career rebounds. Nelson, a senior, has 668 career boards, which ranks 33rd-best, while Gideon, a junior, is 45th all-time with 613. Nelson also ranks 12th-best for career blocks with 143.
• In the history of the A-Sun Conference, only on three occasions has someone shot over 90.0 percent from the free-throw line. Early on in the season, three student-athletes are above the mark. FGCU’s Courtney Chihil leads the way at . 941 ahead of Kennesaw State’s Taylor Mills (.913) and Stetson’s Sasha Sims (.900). The last to achieve the feat was the Hatters’ Nefertiti Walker in the 2005-06 season at . 914. She also shot .920 in the previous season.
• From behind the arch, two A-Sun student-athletes are also having record-setting years. Jacksonville’s Tracie Sneed leads the league with a .600 three-point percentage, while FGCU’s Amber Rechis is right behind her at .571. The A-Sun single-season record is .476, which was set in the 1998-99 season.
• Lipscomb’s Hannah Phillips was stepped up her game this season as she is ranked in the top-20 of four different categories; scoring (10th; 12.0), field-goal percentage (8th; .415), assists (13th; 2.5) and rebounding (18th; 5.2). She has increased her numbers in each of those categories since last season and is one of four student-athletes in the A-Sun to rank in the top-15 for scoring, field-goal percentage and assists.
• Mercer looks to snap its seven game home-losing streak on Sunday when Troy comes to the University Center. The Bears last home win came on Feb. 10th in a overtime win vs. Kennesaw State. The Trojans currently stand at 0-8 on the season.
• USC Upstate takes to the road for its first two conference games this season. Stetson and FGCU await the Spartans on Saturday and Monday. USC Upstate is a combined 1-7 in their past four roadtrips to DeLand and Fort Myers, but are 4-2 against the two teams in the Hodge Center in the past three seasons.
• After a grueling five-game road trip in which ETSU accrued 4,300 miles, the Lady Bucs return to Johnson City for their next five contests. First up is Morehead State on Tuesday, Dec. 20th. The Eagles won 21 games last season, but currently stand at 2-8 on the year.