DATE: Dec. 29/30 2014
TIME: 5/7 p.m. ET both days
LOCATION: Demorest, GA
FACILITY: Cave Arena
RADIO: WCON FM 107.7, AM 1450
STORYLINES
-Piedmont & Birmingham-Southern will rematch after a Nov. 15 meeting
-A win for PC would put the Lady Lions 4-0 vs. BSC in last two seasons
-Emory & Salem last met in the season opener of 2013-14
-Emory won that meeting 69-60, Salem led at half by 5
MATCH FACTS
Two games will occur each day at the tournament hosted by Piedmont College with all game times in Eastern Time. Monday, December 29’s schedule will see Emory open with a 5:00 pm ET showdown vs. Salem with the 7:00 pm ET nightcap featuring Birmingham-Southern taking on the host Piedmont. All four games will be covered live on the Mane Event Broadcasting Network with live video and live stats (links provided above). Live audio will be available online as well for all four contests while Piedmont’s two games will also be carried live on WCON Radio, FM 107.7 and AM 1450. December 30’s action will feature a 5:00 pm ET consolation game matching up the two losing teams from December 29 while the two winning teams will face off in the 7:00 pm ET championship game Tuesday night.
THE COACHES
Now in her 10th season at PC as the Head Women’s Basketball Coach, Jamie Purdy has her team off to a 5-1 start this season though the last time out, her team fell to visiting Berry College. Purdy is 160-87 (.648) at the helm having posted eight winning seasons in her nine years prior to the start of 2014-15. Purdy has three NCAA National Tournament appearances in her record to go with three conference titles. The coach picked up her 100th career victory in the 2009-10 season with a win over Agnes Scott in Cave Arena.
In her second season leading Birmingham-Southern, Rena Holden has her Panthers at 5-4, 2-2 in their last four contests. Holden was 10-16 in her debut season of 2013-14, 6-8 in Southern Athletic Association play. Holden was a Panther assistant coach for six seasons before taking over the program. She came to BSC after two seasons as a Division I assistant at the University of Arkansas.
Emory Coach Christy Thomaskutty is 147-131 in her 11 seasons as the leader of the Eagles located in Atlanta, Georgia. Like Holden, Thomaskutty has Division I experience with five years at Illinois State and a year at St. Louis prior to coming to Emory. Her 2013-14 team set a new program record starting off 14-0 with the 10th win in that stretch coming against PC on New Years Eve in the Cave. However, the Eagles finished 2-9 down the stretch after the historic run with four of those nine losses coming by six points or less.
Leading the Spirits of Salem College in the December tourney at PC is Britni Mohney who is in her first season at the helm after playing and coaching at three other Division III institutions. Mohney doubles as the cross country and track & field coach for Salem and has her Spirits off to a 1-4 start this season. Last season, Salem went 21-5 winning the Great South Athletic Conference title and made the program’s first appearance in the NCAA National Tournament.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Piedmont & Birmingham-Southern: Nov. 15, 2014 – Piedmont 68, Birmingham-Southern 63
Piedmont & Emory: Dec. 31, 2014 – Piedmont 70, Emory 73
Piedmont & Salem: Dec. 7, 2014 – Piedmont 88, Salem 62
Emory & Salem: Nov. 18, 2013 – Emory 69, Salem 60
Birmingham-Southern & Salem: No meetings in last five seasons
Birmingham-Southern & Emory: Nov. 25, 2014 – Birmingham-Southern 64, Emory 45
SCOUTING BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN
Birmingham-Southern has lost its last two contests coming into the December 29 contest, both coming against USA South opponents with losses at Maryville and Huntingdon on Dec. 14 & 16 respectively. Under Head Coach Rena Holden, the Panthers are 2-8 against USA South schools in the last two seasons and are facing USA South member Piedmont in their first contest in Demorest during the two-day tournament.
BSC relies on #32 Kayla Ford for scoring as the only Panther in double figures on the season average with 10.2 per contest. The senior forward is one of only two Panthers to have started and played in all nine games this season. BSC is 2-3 in five away games this season.
SCOUTING EMORY
Emory could be the best shooting team visiting Cave Arena this week as they top the four squads in 3-point field goal percentage with a 32.1% mark. The Eagles are one of just two teams here at the tourney as well shooting better than 40% as a team on the season (Piedmont the other).
Two Eagles are in double-figures this season led by Khadijah Sayyid and her 17 points per game as she is hitting on better than 51% from the floor. Sayyid is close to averaging a double-double on the year leading the team with her 8.4 rebounds per game, almost four more than the players behind her in that column. The junior from Colorado is also 2nd on the team with her 25 assists and tied for 2nd with 11 steals.
SCOUTING SALEM
The Spirits have played four of their first five games at home this season falling in their only road contest, a season-opening 40-point loss at Guilford back on November 20. Quantashea Lewis and Sabrina Shepherd lead the team in scoring this season accounting for 128 of the team’s 293 total points on the season. Three Spirits have started all five games for first-year Head Coach Britni Mohney as Lewis is playing nearly 29 minutes per game this season.
Salem is coming off a 21-win season that saw the Sprits win a GSAC championship and advance to the NCAA National Tournament. The Spirits ranked 2nd in the GSAC last season in scoring with better than 75 points per contest, but Salem has yet to crest that point total once in 2014-15 with a season-high 65 points coming in their lone win this season, a 7-point victory over Johnson on December 6.
SCORE, SCORE, SCORE SOME MORE
Purdy’s Lady Lions are one of the best scoring teams in the nation right now ranking 7th amongst all Division III schools with 82.7 per contest. Even in Piedmont’s loss to Berry College on December 16, the Green and Gold scored nearly 70 points – more than any of the three teams at this week’s tourney are averaging on the season.
IN RARE THREE’S COMPANY
Piedmont sophomore BRIANNA BARRETT is having quite the season so far for Head Coach Jamie Purdy as she is currently leading her team both in assists with 4.3 per game and 3-point field goal percentage hitting on exactly 50% (9-of-18) from downtown. Barrett also leads the USA South in 3-point field goal percentage and is 2nd in assists per game establishing herself as a premier guard in the league.
LAST TIME OUT FOR PIEDMONT: BERRY COLLEGE (L, 95-69)
Twenty-five 1st half points from Berry’s Chanlir Segarra set the tone as the Vikings held a 21-point lead at the half and held off a spark from PC in the second half to move to 7-2 on the season while Piedmont picked up its first loss of the year.
Piedmont had no answer for the Segarra show in the first half falling behind 10-2 over the first four minutes with Segarra accounting for five of the first 10 for Berry. Piedmont climbed back to within four (20-16) at the midway point following a layup from LE’SHAUNDA JONES as she would lead PC on the day in scoring with 25 points (10-of-15).
The second half saw a fired-up run led by the scoring of Jones as PC went from down 27 midway through the half to down just 14 with over six minutes to play courtesy of a crowd-pleasing 15-2 run. With the score now 75-61 and still plenty of time remaining, Berry answered back with a Mel Mclean three-pointer to silence the crowd, and two more free throws from Mclean slowed the momentum of PC with the Vikings up 82-65 and just over three to play.
Berry stayed in front the rest of the way scoring 13 more over the final three minutes becoming the first team to put up 95 or more on the Lady Lions since LaGrange took a 102-80 decision back on January 20 of 2010.
NEXT UP FOR PIEDMONT FOLLOWING THE TOURNEY
After Piedmont wraps up play in the tourney on December 30, the Lady Lions will have the New Year’s Holiday off from competition, but return to the court quickly traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina for a January 2 contest vs. Meredith. The game is the first of two for PC on the weekend as the Lady Lions travel on to Rocky Mount for a January 3 showdown with NC Wesleyan. Live stats and video will be available for both contests courtesy of the Offices of Sports Information at Meredith and NC Wesleyan.
