Todd Drexler

Women's Basketball 3/14/2018 8:30:00 AM

RADFORD MEETS PENN STATE IN WNIT FIRST ROUND

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GAME INFORMATION

Opponent: Penn State (16-15, 6-10 Big Ten)
Postseason: WNIT First Round
Date: Thursday, March 15
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Bryce Jordan Center | University Park, Pa.
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Game Notes

SETTING THE STAGE

Radford (23-8) earned the Big South's automatic bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) after finishing second in the conference standings.
With Liberty winning the conference tournament, Radford earned the right to represent the Big South in the postseason tournament.
After defeating No. 7 Gardner-Webb 53-51 in the conference tournament quarterfinals, second-seeded Radford was upset by No. 3 UNC Asheville 60-50 in the semifinals. The contest served as the 2017 title game rematch.
Radford struggled offensively in the tournament, shooting only 35.5 percent from the field, compared to the opponents' 44.0 percentage.
The Highlanders were 4 of 27 from beyond the arc, but made 21 of 29 attempts from the free throw line.
Khiana Johnson and Destinee Walker led the team with 10.5 points per game in two tournament games, while Jayda Worthy chipped in 8.5 ppg and 10.5 rebounds per game.
Radford's defense forced 29 turnovers, turning them into 24 points.

WNIT HISTORY

Radford is making its eighth postseason appearance—three trips to the NCAA Tournament and five trips to the WNIT.
The Highlanders will be making their third trip in the WNIT in the last four years.
A season ago, Radford dropped an 80-59 first-round matchup to Commonwealth foe James Madison.
Before the 2017 WNIT appearance, Radford faced East Carolina in 2015, marking its first postseason game since 2008. The Highlanders fell 74-52 to the Pirates.
In 2008, Radford faced James Madison for the first time in postseason play, falling 80-58 to the Dukes.
The Highlanders are 2-4 all-time in the WNIT.
Radford's first WNIT appearance came in 1989 as the Highlanders set the program record for wins (25) in a season, finishing 25-7 after going 2-1 in the WNIT. The wins came against DePaul and Richmond. The one loss of the first WNIT appearance came in a 99-92 double overtime loss to San Diego State.

POSTSEASON HONOREES

Earning first team honors for the second time in her career was senior Janayla White, while fellow senior Jayda Worthy was named the league's defensive player of the year in addition to her second team honors.
In all, four Highlanders were recognized, headlined by White and Worthy. Destinee Walker joined the duo with all-conference honors as she earned a spot on the honorable mention team. Redshirt sophomore Jen Falconer was acknowledged on the all-academic team for the first time in her career.
White received two first-place votes and totaled 110 points, finishing 10 points behind Liberty's Keyen Green for the league's player of the year award. Worthy tallied two first-place votes for 17 total points, edging Presbyterian's Cortney Storey for the defensive player of the year honor.
The core of White, Worthy and Walker finished as Radford's top three scorers; responsible for 30.7 of Radford's 61.4 points per game. The same trio earned all-conference a season ago as Radford has placed three players on all-conference teams in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1988-89/1989-90.

ANOTHER ONE FOR MCGUIRE

Mike McGuire was named Big South Coach of the Year for the second time in his five seasons at the helm of the Highlanders.
McGuire donned the honor in 2015 after leading the Highlanders to a 10-win difference in the 2014-15 season.
McGuire led the 2017-18 Highlanders to a 22-7 regular season record and a 15-3 clip in conference play. Radford has won 20 games in back-to-back seasons, marking the first time the Highlanders have done so since the 2006-07/2007-08 campaigns.
The 15 Big South wins set a new program record.
McGuire joins Charlene Curtis as the only two-time winner of the award in program history.
Radford has won the award seven times in its storied program.

HIGHLANDER OFFENSIVE NOTES

In the last five games of the regular season, Radford had three 20-point victories and two 40-point victories.
Radford's average margin of victory is by 28.2 points in those five games.
The Highlanders have 14 wins by 15 or more points this season.
On the season, Radford has five victories decided by 25-plus points, including three wins by 35-plus points in Big South play.
Known for its defensive efforts, Radford ranks second in field goal percentage, connecting for 42.1 percent of its shots to rank second in the league.
In league games, Radford finished tied with Liberty for the top spot with a 45.7 shooting clip.
The Highlanders have shot over 40-percent in 12 out of the last 17 games.
Dominating the paint of late, Radford has scored 218 of its last 349 points inside.
Radford has assisted on 401 of its 715 made field goals as five players have dished out 50-plus assists on the season.
The Highlanders are third in the Big South with 12.9 dimes per game, while leading the way with a 0.89 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Individually, Jayda Worthy is third with a 52.0 field goal percentage, while Janayla White made 61.0 percent of her shots in Big South play to rank second.
White also possesses a 64.0 free throw percentage, which ranks fifth in the league.
Claudia Quevedo finished the regular season with a 44.2 clip from beyond the arc, leading the Big South by making 53 of 120 attempts from deep.

SHE'S WHITE HOT

The last three weeks of the regular seasons were highlighted by a stretch of torrid performances by Janayla White, which led to the forward being named Big South Player of the Week for two straight weeks (Feb. 19 & 26), marking the sixth time on the season the weekly award had resided in the New River Valley.
White has donned the weekly award five times in her career, while becoming the first player to win the award three times during the 2017-18 season.
White has won eight Big South weekly awards, earning three freshman of the week nods during the 2014-15 season.
During the two weeks of awards: White averaged 18.0 points per game, 10.5 rebounds per game, 3.3 blocks per game and 1.8 assists per game.
White was 27 for 34 from the field, turning in a 79.4 shooting clip as the Highlanders won all four games during the stretch.
In the final seven games of the regular season, White tallied 106 points on 38 of 58 shooting, possessing a 65.5 field goal percentage during the stretch.
She averaged 15.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg and 3.0 bpg during the stretch.
In the Feb. 20 win over Longwood, White was 12 for 12 from the field in a 26-point, 11-rebound effort.
The performance is a Big South record for highest field goal percentage in a game and most perfect field goals made in game.
Against Presbyterian on Feb. 24, White matched a career-high six blocks to become the second player in program history and the 10th in Big South history with 200 career blocks.
Radford will need to go on a run in the WNIT for White to become the third player in program history and the eighth in league history with 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. She is currently 34 rebounds from the mark.
White scored double-figures eight times with four double-doubles as Radford finished the regular season with a 10-game winning streak.

THE DEFENSE OF A HIGHLANDER

Fifteen out of Radford's last 16 opponents have been held below 60 points as the Highlanders hold a 32-4 record in the last 63 games when doing so.
The Highlanders allowed only 60-plus points in three of the 18 league games, all coming as losses.
Radford gave up 60 points to UNC Asheville in the semifinal loss, which is the most points allowed by the Highlander defense since a 61-56 loss to Liberty on Jan. 28.
In the last 18 games, 15 opponents have been held below 40 percent shooting as the Highlanders rank second with a 35.9 field goal defense, which is 21^st in the country.
Radford led the Big South in hold opposing league teams to a 33.1 shooting clip.
The Highlander defense held Big South foes to 48.8 points per game, while ranking fifth nationally with a 52.3 scoring defense.
Radford also ranks 15th nationally with a 27.3 three-point field goal percentage defense.
Radford's defense has forced 18-plus turnovers in 13 games on the season.
Forcing 16.0 turnovers per game, Radford is averaging 12.4 points per game off opponent miscues.
Moving their feet on defense, the Highlanders have only committed 424 fouls, which ranks 19th in the nation, while committing only 13.7 per game to rank 15th.
Sophomore Lydia Rivers and senior Janayla White have led Radford's defense to ranking 26th in the nation in blocked shots per game with 5.0 per game.
Totaling 155 as a team to rank 27th nationally, White has blocked 55 with Rivers following with 53.
Nationally, White ranks 43rd with 2.04 per game and Rivers ranks 82nd with 1.71.

CRUNCH TIME

Radford has played in 33 games that have been decided by three points or less since the 2014-15 campaign.
The Highlanders have posted a 25-8 mark in those games.
Under head coach Mike McGuire, Radford is 27-12 in games decided by five points or less.

SCOUTING PENN STATE

Penn State (16-15) earned the 11th seed in the Big Ten Tournament after finishing with a 6-10 conference clip. The Nittany Lions were eliminated by sixth seeded Michigan in the second round.
Penn State will make its fourth WNIT appearance in school history, owning a 6-2 record in the event, while earning a bid for the second straight season.
In the 2017 event, Penn State defeated Ohio (74-65) in the opening round and Fordham (70-51) in the second round before falling to Virginia Tech (55-64) in the third round. Penn State claimed the first-ever WNIT Championship with a 59-56 victor over Baylor on March 24, 1998 in Waco, Texas.
Junior Teniya Page leads the team with 18.6 ppg, reaching double-figures in each of the last five games, holding a 20.2 scoring clip during that span.
Page gets to the free throw line often, making 131 of 161 attempts for an 81.4 percentage – fourth best in the Big Ten.
Redshirt sophomore Amari Carter is the Nittany Lions' second leading scorer with 14.1 ppg. Carter is dishing out 3.6 assists per game, while picking 2.6 steals per game.
In Penn State's 83-57 Big Ten Tournament win over Illinois, Carter set a tournament record with a 38-point effort of 14 of 24 shooting.
Jaida Travascio-Green rounds out Penn State's scorers in double-figures with 11.2 per game. Of Travascio-Green's 113 made field goals, 71 have come from behind the three-point line.
Opposing teams are averaging 69.7 per game against the Nittany Lion defense, shooting 42.3 percent from the field.
However, Penn State is forcing 16.1 turnovers per game, averaging 8.2 steals per contest.
Opponents command a +4.2 rebound-margin, pulling down 40.0 rpg compared to Penn State's 35.7 per game.

UP NEXT

The winner of Radford/Penn State will face the winner of James Madison/ETSU in the second round to be played between March 17-20.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Jen Falconer: G; 5' 8"; Redshirt Sophomore

#4 Khiana Johnson: G; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#11 Claudia Quevedo: G; 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

#20 Lydia Rivers: F; 6' 2"; Redshirt Sophomore

#10 Destinee Walker: G/F; 5' 11"; Junior

#21 Janayla White: F; 6' 2"; Senior

#22 Jayda Worthy: F; 6' 0"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#5 Jen Falconer
: 5' 8"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#4 Khiana Johnson
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: G

#11 Claudia Quevedo
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#20 Lydia Rivers
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Sophomore
: F

#10 Destinee Walker
: 5' 11"; Junior
: G/F

#21 Janayla White
: 6' 2"; Senior
: F

#22 Jayda Worthy
: 6' 0"; Senior
: F