FLORENCE, Ala. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team will remain on the road to face the University of North Alabama on Monday at 6:00 p.m. in Flowers Hall.
This will be the 9th all-time meetinig between the two schools with MC holding a 6-2 edge in the series. The Lady Choctaws are 4-0 in Clinton, but the four games have been split in Florence. The last contest was in 1992-93, an 81-73 victory for MC.
Head coach
Paul Allen Duke earned his 336th win on Saturday, December 13th 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 (.682). 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 opened the 2015 portion of the schedule on Saturday afternoon with a 78-60 loss at Alabama Huntsville. The Chargers opened up a close game in the final minutes to clinch the victory. Junior
Ashley Minor led the Lady Choctaws with 18 points and five steals, while juniors
Kristen Sampson (14) and
Allie Hill (12) also scored in double-figures.
Minor and Sampson are each averaging 12.0 points per game to lead the Lady Choctaws, who are holding their opponents to just 35% shooting from the field. The MC defense has been the key to their success this season as they are 6-1 when opponents score fewer than 60 points and 0-4 when they score 60 or more.
Minor also leads the team with 30 steals, including 23 in seven conference games this season. Hill leads the team with 2.4 assists per game, while sophomore
Kourtney Steele (7.2) and senior
AnnMarie Harris (7.1) are the team's top rebounders. Sophomore
Zaneta Kubicka has a team-high 18 blocks on the year.
The Lions are led by head coach Missy Tiber in her second season at the helm. She has spent 13 seasons as a head coach, coming to UNA after a four-year career at Division I Southern Illinois. UNA dropped their first game of the 2014 season on Saturday afternoon, falling to Delta State, 64-61, a game that saw the Lions with a 40-26 lead at halftime.
Jennifer Towne is the team's leading scorer with 15.5 points per game and 21 steals. Mekena Randle (11.1) and Jessica Brown (10.5) are also averaging in double-figures, while Randle has a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game. Towne led the way with 12 points against Delta State, while scoring a season-high 26 in the season-opener against Bellarmine.
