HUNTSVILLE, Ala. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team will open 2015 on the road when they travel to face Alabama Huntsville on Saturday, January 3rd. Tip-off at Spragins Hill is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
This will be the 5th all-time meeting between the two schools with the series being split, 2-2. MC won the first two contests in 1987-88 (82-49) and 1993-94 (73-56), while the Chargers won in 1993-94 (79-60) and 1996-97 (75-49).
Head coach
Paul Allen Duke earned his 336th win on Saturday afternoon against Christian Brothers, marking the 700th win in program history, dating back to 1970. Duke is the winningest coach in school history and has the highest winning percentage (.684).
Duke coached Thursday night with a heavy heart after his father, Paul, passed away on Saturday night after a lengthy battle with cancer. He is slated to coach his 500th career game this season with the game against West Alabama on January 24th projected to be the milestone.
The Lady Choctaws had a two-game win streak snapped with a 76-69 loss to Valdosta State in their last game of 2014. The Lady Blazers became MC's first opponent to shoot over 50% in a game this season. Junior
Kristen Sampson scored 14 points to lead MC, while sophomore
Kourtney Steele had 11 points and seven rebounds to go along with three assists and two blocks.
Sampson (11.8 ppg) is now the team's leading scorer, followed closely by fellow junior
Ashley Minor (11.6 ppg). Minor tallied a double-double with 20 points and 10 steals in MC's comeback win over West Florida on December 18th. Senior
AnnMarie Harris leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game to go along with 8.1 points per game.
The Chargers are led by first-year head coach Andrea Lemmond, who came to UAH after spending six years as an assistant at Samford. After opening the season 3-5, the Chargers have won 3-of-4, including a 70-64 win on the road against Lee on December 20th.
UAH boasts a balanced scoring attack with just one player scoring in double-figures in Halle Jarnagin (11.1 ppg), who scored a season-high 25 points against West Georgia, earning Gulf South Conference Player of the Week honors.
Six players are averaging at least five points per game, while Shannon Steinert scores 8.7 points and dishes out 2.8 assists per game. Jarnagin is second on the team with 2.7 assists per game and is the team-leader with 5.2 rebounds per contest.
