Belmont remained undefeated on top of the Atlantic Sun after
its lone conference game last week. The Bruins toppled Lipscomb in part one
of the Battle of the Boulevard, 72-55. Earlier in the week, BU knocked off visiting
IPFW, 79-74. Sophomore Alysha Clark picked up her 11th double-double of the
season against the Lady Bisons with a 13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
This week, the Bruins head to North Carolina to take on Gardner-Webb and Campbell.
Campbell ended a seven-game losing streak with a dominating 67-41
victory at Mercer this past Saturday. Marlena Murphy netted her fourth 20-point
game of the season and her eighth double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds.
Letitia Dickson has been on fire from three-point range over the past three
games connecting on 10 of her last 16 from long range. Dickson has moved from
unranked to first in the conference in three-point shooting in A-Sun games hitting
50.0 percent.
The Lady Bucs are on season-high four game winning streak
after beating UNF 87-48 on Thursday, and Jacksonville, 68-61, on Saturday. It
marked the second consecutive weekend ETSU has swept its A-Sun opponents, and
the third time this season. The Lady Bucs continued to be a force on the boards
as they out-rebounded their opponent for the eighth consecutive game against
Jacksonville. During the stretch ETSU has posted a +9.8 rebounding margin (45.6-35.9).
Gardner-Webb showed its dominant defense in the 49-28 win
over Mercer last Thursday. The Bulldogs held the Bears to an A-Sun season-low
eight points in the first half and the 28 points allowed is the least amount
scored on GWU in school history. The Bulldogs recorded numerous top-five performances
as a team and individuals in the win. GWU then fell at Stetson on Saturday,
69-52. The Bulldogs will look to rebound at home on Thursday when they host
Belmont at 6 p.m., before playing Lipscomb on Saturday night at 6 p.m., in the
friendly confines of Paul Porter Arena.
JU posted its highest winning streak of the season and the
second longest streak in program history with a 71-67 win at Kennesaw State
on Jan. 18. The Dolphins also posted 10 wins in back-to-back seasons for the
first time in program history. JU set a season-high by erasing a 19-point
deficit against East Tennessee State on Jan. 20. The Dolphins are a program-best
7-1 at home this season and will look to set a program record for home wins
in a season this week against Mercer and Stetson.
KSU went 1-1 last week, falling 71-67 to Jacksonville, but
rebounding in overtime 73-68 versus the Lady Owls long-time rival, North Florida.
Rosetta Hollis led the way during the week with 16.0 ppg and 4.5 rpg. The
Lady Owls lead the A-sun in rebounding margin. KSU is winning the battle of
the boards by 4.3 rebounds per contest.
Junior point guard Catie Woods scored a game-high 19 points
in Saturdays 72-55 loss to Belmont. It was her sixth time this season to lead
the Lady Bisons in scoring this season and her fourth time in the last five
games to score in double figures. Sophomore center Katie Rollins was featured
in the latest issue of Sports Spectrum magazine in an article dealing with her
major in Bible at Lipscomb.
The Bears dropped their ninth game in a row at home Saturday, extending
their losing streak to 14 games overall. Mercer is in jeopardy of tying the
school record of 15 consecutive losses, set during the 1987-88 season. Mercer
has used 12 different lineups this season, using only two lineups three or more
times. The Bears notched their lone win with a lineup of Sally Skeldon, Rhonda
Owens, Megan Lewis, Erin Keller and Nicole Leonard.
UNF finished the week 0-2 after falling in a pair of conference games
to ETSU and Kennesaw State. UNF overcame an eight-point second-half deficit
at the hands of KSU to force overtime on a Jennifer Guldager jumper with eight
seconds left. UNF, however, was outscored 13-8 in overtime in a 73-68 loss.
The Lady Ospreys have averaged more than 11 steals in their last five outings.
UNF returns home this week to take on Mercer and Stetson.
Stetson took on Campbellon Thursday. The Hatters were able
to maintain the lead, going up as much as 14 points with senior Janene Maclin
leading the Hatters with a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore
Sharnesha Smith putting up 13 points to give Stetson to a 67-60 conference win.
The Hatters next challenge was Gardner-Webb. Coming into the competition
on Saturday, both teams held identical records in the A-Sun. After another great
performance by senior Janene Maclin, Stetson was able to roll to an easy 17
point victory, 69-52.