January 14, 2012

UNCG (2-13, 1-6 SoCon) vs. Georgia Southern (5-11, 1-6 SoCon), Jan. 15, 2 p.m., Fleming Gym

LiveStats: UNCGSpartans.com
Video: Spartan All Access (free)

UNCG vs. Georgia Southern game notes

Storylines

• UNCG hosts Georgia Southern on Sunday as it tries to get back on track in Southern Conference play.

• The Spartans need a win Sunday to avoid matching the longest losing streak in their Division I history. UNCG has lost nine straight, one shy of the 10-game skid it suffered from Jan. 16 to Feb. 20, 2010.

• UNCG lost to College of Charleston on Friday night in a game that featured five ties and 15 lead changes. The contest was a tight one throughout but the Cougars got hot at the end, finishing the game on a 13-2 run to claim a 52-42 win and snap an eight-game skid of their own. Breonna Patterson led UNCG with nine points and Janae' Stevenson pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds.

• Just like Friday against College of Charleston, the winner of Sunday's game will climb out of the SoCon cellar. UNCG, Georgia Southern and Western Carolina are all 1-6 in league play so far.

• After six straight games on the road, UNCG is in the third game of a season- long four-game homestand.

• Patterson leads UNCG in scoring with 10.2 points per game, while Stevenson has recently taken over the team rebounding lead at 5.2 per contest and is second in scoring at 8.6 points per game. Dayshaun Richbow leads the team with 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game.

• Since Dec. 17, Stevenson leads UNCG with 10.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in seven contests. Stevenson has grabbed at least six rebounds in all but one of those games. She has also blocked at least one shot in seven straight games with 11 over that span.

• UNCG leads the series with Georgia Southern, 19-15. The teams have split in each of the last three seasons.

• In last season's first contest, Monique Floyd paced UNCG with 18 points and 11 rebounds in the Spartans' 55-51 win in Greensboro on Jan. 5. Dayshaun Richbow added a career-high 12 points for UNCG. Floyd had a steal and hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to wrap up the win. Krista Tate led the Lady Eagles with 11 points.

• GSU got its revenge in thrilling fashion in Statesboro, Ga., exactly a month later. After Floyd hit a go-ahead floater with just 4.7 seconds left, Meredyth Frye raced the length of the floor and hit a layup as time expired to give the Lady Eagles a 68-67 win. Floyd had a career-high 27 points in the game, while Samantha Williams led GSU with 18.

• The Lady Eagles bring a 5-11 overall mark into Sunday's contest and faced a tough schedule in the early going with home games against Arizona and then-No. 12 Georgia and a road contest at Alabama, all in their first four games of the season.

• GSU's lone SoCon win came over Wofford on Jan. 2. The Lady Eagles kept it close in losses to Furman (66-60), Samford (53-47), Chattanooga (66-60) and Elon (61-60).

• Friday's contest against Elon was a heartbreaker for the Lady Eagles, as the Phoenix got a coast-to-coast layup to drop with 3.5 seconds left to steal the one-point win. Frye had just put GSU on top of with a pair of free throws with nine seconds left before Elon's heroics. Janay Wilson's 3-point heave as time expired went begging as the Lady Eagles lost their third straight.

• Frye does it all for Georgia Southern. The junior guard, who has started all 16 games, leads the Lady Eagles in scoring at 10.8 points per game, rebounding at 5.1 per game and assists at 1.9 per game. MiMi DuBose is second in scoring at 8.7 points per game.

- UNCG -