Radford Athletics Communications

Women's Basketball 3/16/2018 5:00:00 PM

RADFORD FACES JAMES MADISON SATURDAY IN WNIT SECOND ROUND

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GAME INFORMATION

Opponent: James Madison (22-10, 16-2 CAA)
Postseason: WNIT Second Round
Date: Saturday, March 17
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: JMU Convocation Center | Harrisonburg, Va.
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Game Notes

LEAVING HAPPY VALLEY, HAPPY

After being upset in the Big South semifinals, Radford (24-8) was left with unfinished business and took care of some of that business with a 63-62 overtime win against Penn State.
With the win, Radford becomes the first Big South team to win a WNIT game since 2013, while earning its third postseason win.
The win over the Nittany Lions marks the first win over a Big Ten opponent in program history.
With the win, head coach Mike McGuire picks up his second win over a Power 5 program in the last two seasons.
Radford placed four in double-figures: Destinee Walker (13), Janayla White (12), Jayda Worthy (11), Khiana Johnson (10).
The Highlanders placed four in double-figures for the ninth time on the season.
Radford improves to 8-1 in overtime games under Mike McGuire.
Forcing 21 turnovers, Radford turned the miscues into 19 points. However, the Highlanders turned the ball over 23 times.
Radford held a 42-37 edge on the boards as four Highlanders pulled down six-plus rebounds.
In the paint, Radford held a 32-26 edge in the paint, while outscoring Penn State's bench 18-8.
Finishing with five assists, Claudia Quevedo dished out three-plus assists for the 17th time on the season.
Walker finished with four assists as Radford dished out 14 on 24 made field goals.
Five different Highlanders finished with two steals each.

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 3-4 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 42.0 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 13 out of the last 18 games.
Dominating the paint of late, Radford has scored 250 of its last 381 points inside.
Radford has assisted on 415 of its 729 made field goals as five players have dished out 50-plus assists on the season.
The Highlanders are third in the Big South with 13.0 dimes per game, while leading the way with a 0.87 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Individually, Jayda Worthy is third with a 51.1 field goal percentage, while Janayla White made 61.0 percent of her shots in Big South play to rank second.
White also possesses a 63.0 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 27 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 17 opponents have been held below 60 points as the Highlanders hold a 32-4 record in the last 64 games when doing so.
The Highlanders allowed only 60-plus points in three of the 18 league games, all coming as losses.
Penn State's 62 points is the most allowed by the Radford defense since a 67-56 loss to UNC Asheville on Jan. 9.
In the last 19 games, 16 opponents have been held below 40 percent shooting as the Highlanders rank second with a 35.9 field goal defense, which is 20th 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 52.6 scoring defense.
Radford also ranks 15th nationally with a 27.4 three-point field goal percentage defense.
Radford's defense has forced 18-plus turnovers in 14 games on the season.
Forcing 16.2 turnovers per game, Radford is averaging 12.7 points per game off opponent miscues.
Moving their feet on defense, the Highlanders have only committed 441 fouls, which ranks 21st in the nation, while committing only 13.8 per game to rank 17th.
Sophomore Lydia Rivers and senior Janayla White have led Radford's defense to ranking 31st in the nation in blocked shots per game with 4.9 per game.
Totaling 157 as a team to rank 28th nationally, White has blocked 56 with Rivers following with 53.
Nationally, White ranks 46th with 2.00 per game and Rivers ranks 88th with 1.66.

CRUNCH TIME

Radford has played in 34 games that have been decided by three points or less since the 2014-15 campaign.
The Highlanders have posted a 26-8 mark in those games.
Under head coach Mike McGuire, Radford is 28-12 in games decided by five points or less.

SCOUTING JAMES MADISON

James Madison (22-10) held off a late four quarter comeback Thursday night for a 60-52 win over ETSU in the WNIT First Round.
Sophomore guard Lexie Barrier poured in a career-high 27 points, most by a JMU player this season. Her night included 11 points in the fourth quarter and nine in the opening period.
Redshirt-sophomore center Kayla Cooper-Williams added nine points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
ETSU held JMU without a field goal in the final 6:07 of the fourth quarter, but the Dukes went 12-for-12 during that span at the free throw line to keep the game in control.
In the fourth quarter, JMU went 14 for 14 from the free throw line, finishing 23 of 26 from the field.
The Dukes have won 19 of their last 22 games.
James Madison is 16-7 all-time in the WNIT, including a 14-2 clip at home.

UP NEXT

The winner of Radford/James Madison will face the winner of West Virginia/St. Joseph's in the WNIT Third Round to be played March 21-23.

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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