RADFORD, Va. - The Highlanders will make their longest Big South Conference trip of the season to the home of the Buccaneers on Saturday, Feb. 8th. Radford (10-11, BSC) will be looking to build off their two-game winning streak against Charleston Southern (3-18, 1-11 BSC) and notch their third conference season series sweep.
Back on Saturday, Feb. 1st the Highlanders swept the Runnin' Bulldogs led by a trio of double digit scorers, 65-51. In round two of this conference battle, Gardner-Webb was never able to contest Radford, who led for the duration of the game. The Highlanders scored in double digits each period, ending with 21 points in the fourth. Sydney Nunley tacked on yet another impressive outing in true double-double fashion. She was joined by her teammate, Aiden Rainford, who posted her first double-double as a Highlander. Joining in on the scoring was, Khiana Johnson who also served up a game-high six assists.
In the first meeting, Savannah Plentovich notched 30 points through 28 minutes. In the rematch, the Highlander defense held the sisters under 20 points on a combined 34 total shot attempts. They were the only double-digit scorers for the Runnin' Bulldogs, with Carley Plentovich grabbing a team leading seven rebounds.
Â
For Radford, Johnson played a total of 35 minutes and scored 12 points. This is the 14th time she has scored 10-plus points in a game this year. Johnson added six assists, 50 percent from the free throw line and the three-point line. Nunley now has 20 double-doubles on her career and eight on the season, with this 21 point and 11 rebound performance. Through her 31 minutes, she even added two assists, a block, several steals and only missed once at the charity stripe. In her first double-double as a Highlander, Rainford made her mark on every inch of the court. She played a season high in minutes at 34, grabbed 13 boards, an assist, a block, tallied 11 points, and even drained her first career three-pointer. Radford's defense held Gardner-Webb to 29.5 percent shooting on the night and only eight paint points. The Highlanders had 24 trips to the free throw line and ended the contest shooting 70.8 percent from the line. The paint was the primary scoring area with 32 points coming from there and Radford totaled 19 points off Gardner-Webb turnovers. The bench contributed 16 points, while holding the Runnin' Bulldog's reserves to only five points.Â
Last time out, Radford scored a then season high in points against Charleston Southern back on Jan. 4th. Radford held the opposition to only 35 points, which is a season low in points allowed. The win gave head coach Mike McGuire's team their largest margin of victory this season of 37 points. The Highlanders had three in double digits as well as double-doubles from Amele Ngwafang and Nunley. At halftime, Radford as a team had notched a pair of season highs. At that point in the season, the 36 points at the intermission was the most first half points for the Highlanders. And, the 24 points still serving as the largest halftime lead for Radford this season. The shooting discrepancy was 45.7 percent for the Highlanders and 15.2 percent for the Buccaneers.
A Radford win would add another season series sweep to the Highlanders' resume and push the winning streak to three games. A loss gives the Bucs their second Big South win and their fourth victory on the year.Â
In NCAA DI women's basketball, Radford as a team cracks the top-100 in fewest fouls at 88, free throw attempts at 67, personal fouls per game at 75, rebound margin at 91, and scoring defense at 55. Johnson is ranked at 101 in assists, 115 in assists per game, and field goal attempts at 149. Nunley is 226 in blocked shots per game, double doubles at 49, 143 in rebounds, and 123 in rebounds per game. Ngwafang is 80 at free throw attempts and 187 in rebounds per game.Â
Falconer set a new program record in career games played at 124 versus Campbell, and Johnson is close behind at No.4 with 120 games played. Johnson and Falconer are No.2 & 3 in career three-pointers attempted at 398 and 361 respectively. The duo is also seventh and eighth in assists at 317 and 303 respectively. Nunley is sixth for career blocks at 114. Johnson is 10th for three-pointers made on her career with 105. Tina Lindenfeld cracked the top-10 in career three-pointers attempted at 164.Â
Since their first game against Radford, Gardner-Webb has played a nine games and won one at UNC Asheville, 60-48. In their last game at Winthrop, Charleston Southern fell 46-56 in Rock Hill, S.C. It was a tale of two halves for the Buccaneers as they were unable to hold off an Eagles' second-half rally. CSU (3-18, 1-11 Big South) shot 42.9% (15-of-35) from the floor in the first half on their way to mounting a double-digit lead at the break. The Buccaneers relied heavily on their freshman in the early stages of the game with the first-year players scoring CSU's first 12 points of the game on their way to leading 17-9 after the first quarter. The Eagles (10-11, 7-5 Big South) rallied back in the second half with a stifling defensive presence as Winthrop held the Bucs to just 12.1% shooting from the floor over the final 20 minutes in the comeback. Winthrop scored 14 of the final 17 points of the game on their way to taking the Big South win. Kelsie Ruff paced the Bucs with 10 points and nine rebounds in the contest, while adding two assists. Sha'Mya Leigh added eight points off the bench, while Sharita Godfrey chipped in seven points and eight boards in the loss.
UP NEXT
Radford continues their road trip to Buies Creek, N.C. to seek redemption against Campbell on Saturday, Feb. 15th at 2:00 p.m. back on ESPN+.
FOLLOW RADFORD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
For more information on the Radford women's basketball team follow @Radford_WBB on Twitter and Instagram or Radford Women's Basketball.Â
