RADFORD, Va. - For their first contest of the New Year, Radford welcomes Charleston Southern to the Dedmon Center on Saturday, Jan. 4th at 2:00 p.m. The Highlanders will be looking to carry over the momentum from their New Year's Eve, Big South Conference opener against The Blue Hose.
MARKETING PROMOTION
This game is part of a Big South doubleheader with the men's team, whose game versus High Point will immediately follow at 4:30 p.m. Pay for a women's ticket and stay in general admission for free for the men's game.
Radford's 54-42 victory over Presbyterian opened conference play for the Highlanders on a high note, and pushed the Blue Hose to 0-2. The game marked head coach Mike McGuire's fourth consecutive conference opening win. The contest was a gritty, and grind-it-out affair but multiple defensive stops paired with a combined 28 points from Khiana Johnson and Amele Ngwafang lifted Radford above Presbyterian. Pace for the Highlanders was key in this matchup, as they garnered 12 points from fastbreak possessions alone. The bench also produced a solid 15 points to the overall effort. In this back-and-forth battle the score changed four times, and the lead seven.
Ngwafang and Johnson scored 14 points each, and set the tone for Radford offensively. Ngwafang's near double-double of 14 and nine came over the course of 27 minutes on the hardwood. She added several steals, a block, an assist, while shooting 5-for-6 from the floor and 4-for-9 at the charity stripe. For her second consecutive game posting 14 points, Johnson was an assist machine and served up seven. She got it done from every spot on the floor and even grabbed several boards through 35 minutes.
The teams were as equally matched as they could possibly be in every facet. Points in the paint (28) and points off of turnovers (12) were tied for both teams. After starting the game off slower than usual, Radford's offense picked up and shot above 50 percent in the second half. Contrariwise, the electrified Highlander defense kept The Blue Hose under 30 percent shooting on the afternoon.
"Today was a hard-fought game and one that we expected," said Mike McGuire. "PC competes hard and is well coached. I am happy for our ladies that we could find a way to win this conference opener. It was not pretty and we have a lot of things to work on and clean up moving forward. This team has a lot of growth in front of them if we will continue to value the day to day work."
The last time Radford and Charleston Southern faced each other was back on Jan. 15th, Radford took the single-game win 67-41. The Highlanders had five in double-digits, and three with double-doubles. Lydia Rivers (12pts, 13rebs), Savannah Felgemacher (11pts, 10 rebs), and Sydney Nunley (10pts, 12rebs) were crucial in this victory. Destinee Walker and Khiana Johnson also contributed 10pts, with Makaila Wilson one point away from double-digit scoring. Radford had 35pts in the paint and 15 points off turnovers. CSU shot 23.8 percent from the field and 6.7 from deep, with now graduated Shelby Wilbanks setting pace with 11pts and four rebounds.
A Radford win would give the Highlanders their second Big South Conference win and increase the all-time series to 54-19. A victory could also give Radford their longest winning streak of the season thus far. A Radford loss would give Charleston Southern their first conference win through three games played and bring the Bucs to 20 total wins in the all-time series.
In NCAA DI women's basketball, Radford as a team cracks the top-100 teams in fewest fouls at 65 and 60 in fewest turnovers. Khiana is 75th in assists per game, third in conference. Sydney Nunley is 220th in blocked shots per game, fifth in the conference. Amele Ngwafang is 220th in rebounds per game and third in the Big South.
Jen Falconer is eight games away from tying Jayda Worthy (2014-18) for career games played at 123. Falconer & Johnson are also two and three in career three-point attempts at 362 and 329. The duo continue to climb the career assists leader, Johnson is eighth at 277 and Falconer is ninth at 276. Sydney Nunley has now solidified herself at No.7 in individual career blocks at 103.
The Bucs are looking to find their footing as the young team continues to battle in the Big South. This is one of the youngest teams in the nation with five freshmen and two sophomores seeing significant playing time. CSU is currently on a three-game skid after falling in their first two conference games, as well as local rival College of Charleston before Christmas. The Bucs are coming off a difficult game against Gardner-Webb as CSU was unable to keep pace with the Runnin' Bulldogs in the Big South home opener.
The Runnin' Bulldogs raced out to an 11-0 lead early in the contest, controlling the paint and second-chance opportunities held off the Bucs late. CSU was paced by senior Tierra Steede who posted her first collegiate double-double of her Bucs career, 14 points & 11 rebounds, and a career-high four blocked shots.
UP NEXT
Radford will head to High Point to start the two-game Big South Conference road trip on Monday, Jan. 6 at 7:00 p.m.
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