Women's Basketball Battles UNC Greensboro Tuesday Night
November 23, 2015 | Women's Basketball
The Game
Gardner-Webb goes for its fourth win in a row to start the season and the last matchup before the Thanksgiving Holiday, when it welcomes UNC Greensboro to Paul Porter Arena for a non-conference matchup at 7:00 p.m. Fans can view Tuesday's game on the Big South Network or listen to the broadcast on wgwg.org
Last Time Out
The Runnin' Bulldogs squeaked past Wofford 64-61 in their last game. Wofford jumped out to a 27-29 lead at halftime, as they shot 11-29 from the field (37.9%), while holding the home side to just 7-25 (28.0%). Overall, GWU shot just 33.9% (19-56) from the field but really utilized the free-throw line to help seals the victory converting 24-35 attempts from the free-throw line. Candace Brown continued her fantastic start to the season scoring a career-high 25 points, 14 rebounds, added five blocks, and went 14-18 from the free-throw line.
Series Notes
This is the fourth meeting all-time between the Runnin' Bulldogs and the Spartans. UNCG leads the all-time series 2-1 and were victorious in last year's matchup 76-60. Gardner-Webb led 42-34 at half and hit 17-31 attempts in the opening half, but UNCG outscored GWU 42-18 in the second half, limiting the visitors to just 8-33 from the field, while connecting on 18 of its 37 attempts.
Home Sweet Home
The Runnin' Bulldogs posted an 8-6 record inside of Paul Porter Arena last season, compared to a 5-10 mark away from Boiling Springs. In his 11 seasons at GWU, Reeves' teams have posted a .500 mark or better inside of Paul Porter Arena in 10 of the 11 seasons, compared to just two above .500 seasons outside of Boing Springs. Reeves has posted a 102-53 mark in PPA as head coach of Gardner-Webb.
New Faces
Three new faces will be joining Coach Reeves along the sidelines this season, as Cierra Harris transiitons from the Director of Operations to Assistant Coach, Cetera DeGraffenreid joins the coaching staff after playing professionally in Israel, and Letoya Twitty joins the staff as the Director of Basketball Operations.
Big South Success
Head Coach Rick Reeves enters his 12th season as head coach of the Gardner-Webb women's baskeball team. The longest tenured coach in GWU women's basketball history, Reeves' teams have appeared in the conference tournament in 11 of his 12 seasons and have posted a 10-5 mark in the end of the year tournaments, which is the fourth best win percentage among current Big South Schools.
Jump Shots
2 Friday's road win the season-opener was the first victory for Gardner-Webb in a road season opener since the 2010-11 season, when it defeated Wofford 62-47.
2 Tuesday's victory in the home-opener against Montreat is the third consecutive year that the Runnin' Bulldogs have won the season-opener.
2 With a victory Tuesday, it would be the first time that GWU starts the season 4-0 since 2013-14.
2 Seniors Olivia Parker and Candace Brown enter the 2015-16 season with 858 and 803 points respectively and can become the third pair of teammates to go over the 1,000 point mark in the same season.
