 |  |
UNCG heads to Radford seeking first win of season
.jpg?max_width=450 "Natalie Headley (Photo by Dano Keeney)")
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNCG (0-3) | 23 | 44 | 67 |
| Radford (4-0) | 39 | 36 | 75 |
| Radford, Va. | |||
| UNCG | Radford |
|---|---|
| Pts: Breonna Patterson - 23 | Pts: D Erwin Spencer - 27 |
| Reb: 2 Players (#01, #TM - 6) | Reb: 3 Players (#22, #24, #TM - 5) |
| Ast: Natalie Headley - 3 | Ast: D Erwin Spencer - 9 |
| Team Statistics | UNCG | Radford |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goal % | 42.9% (24-56 ) | 48.3% (28-58 ) |
| Rebounds | 32 | 36 |
| Assists | 7 | 20 |
| Turnovers | 16 | 14 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 20 | 15 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 9 | 5 |
| Pts in the Paint | 28 | 30 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 8 | 14 |
| Bench Pts | 32 | 16 |
UNCG (0-2, 0-0 SoCon) at Radford (3-0, 0-0 Big South), Nov. 21, 7 p.m., Radford, Va.
LiveStats: UNCGSpartans.com (via RadfordAthletics.com)
Audio: RadfordAthletics.com
Storylines
• UNCG seeks its first win of the season Monday when it takes on Radford in the middle game of a three-game road swing.
• The Spartans are 0-2 after losses to Liberty and No. 19/17 North Carolina to open the season.
• Freshman Jarae Savage led UNCG with 10 points against the Tar Heels on Wednesday, while redshirt sophomore Natalie Headley pulled down a career-best 10 rebounds.
• The Highlanders will be UNCG's second Big South Conference opponent of the season after opening the season with Liberty. UNCG was a member of the Big South from 1992-97, winning regular-season titles in each of its five seasons in the league.
• UNCG is 11-5 all-time against Radford and has won six of the last seven meetings.
• UNCG has plenty of veteran leadership returning from last year's 13-16 squad (10-10 Southern Conference). Seniors Jazz Weaver and Sarah Folwell and redshirt junior Amy Clapper are all in their fourth seasons on the roster, while junior Dayshaun Richbow and sophomore Janae' Stevenson combined to start all but three games last year. Folwell has appeared in 85 career games, tops on the UNCG roster.
• Stevenson was a SoCon All-Freshman selection a year ago, when she averaged 7.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She was seventh in the SoCon in rebounding and became the first freshman to lead the Spartans in that category since the 1996-97 season, when UNCG Hall of Famer Melinda Goodson did so.
• Radford went 14-16 overall last season and 11-5 in Big South play to finishin a tie for second in the league. Coach Tajama Abraham Ngongba was named the league's coach of the year.
• Ngongba and UNCG coach Wendy Palmer are part of the small sorority of college head coaches with WNBA experience. Palmer is an 11-year veteran of the league, playing for seven teams, while Ngongba played two years for two teams. Both were selected in the inaugural WNBA draft in 1997. Both played for the Detroit Shock, though not at the same time.
• Two other UNCG coaches have ties to Ngongba. Assistant coach Kristeena Alexander was a student-athlete at George Washington when Ngongba was on the Colonials' staff as an administrative assistant. UNCG assistant Keith McCray was a member of Ngongba's staff at Radford in 2010-11.
• Radford is off to a 3-0 start with wins over Eastern Mennonite, Winston-Salem State and USC Upstate.
• The Highlanders have cruised through their first three games, winning by an average of 38 points. Radford opened the season with a 100-42 win over Eastern Mennonite then took a 69-46 over WSSU. RU grabbed an 85-52 win over USC Upstate on Saturday.
• Victoria Hamilton scored a career-high 22 points in Radford's win over USCU, while Da'Naria Erwin Spencer had 21. The Highlanders scored 59 second-half points in the runaway win.
• Erwin Spencer leads Radford with 18.3 points per game, while Ashley Buckhannon, the Highlanders' leading scorer in their first two games, is second with 16.3. Tiana Cannon paces the squad with 7.3 rebounds per game, while Hamilton is pulling down an even 7.0 per contest. Erwin Spencer is leading the squad with 6.0 assists per game.
- UNCG -
