DURHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina Central University women's basketball team will play two non-conference games at Georgia Southern University on Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 20-21, after both programs had games cancelled for the upcoming weekend. The first game in Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Georgia, will begin at 3 p.m., while Sunday's finale will tipoff at 2 p.m.
GAME INFO:
DATE: Sat., Feb. 20 (3 PM) & Sun., Feb. 21 (2 PM)
LOCATION: Hanner Fieldhouse, Statesboro, Ga.
TICKETS:
25% Capacity
WATCH: ESPN+ (
Saturday;
Sunday)
LISTEN:
GS Sports Network
FOLLOW: Live Stats (
Saturday;
Sunday);
@NCCUAthletics
DIGITAL GAME NOTES:
NC Central;
Georgia Southern
NC CENTRAL BENCH:
The Eagles will try and bounce back from two home losses to MEAC frontrunner North Carolina A&T State University last weekend. NCCU (3-6 Overall, 1-3 MEAC) is 2-3 on the road this season.
Sophomore forward
Anissa Rivera is averaging 17.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. She has earned MEAC weekly awards five times this season (Player of the Week twice and Defensive Player of the Week three times). Rivera, who has scored in double digits in all nine games, leads the MEAC in scoring out of qualifying individuals. She also sits atop the league and ranks sixth nationally with 3.22 blocks per game. Rivera, who also has four double-doubles, ranks fourth in the conference in both rebounding (9.1 RPG) and shooting accuracy (39.4% field goal percentage).
Junior forward
Kiyana Brown has stepped up for the maroon and gray since the Eagles have dealt with some injuries by recording double-doubles of her last five games. Most recently, Brown is averaging 9.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in league play (last four games).
Junior
Cherelle Washington and freshman
Paris McBride have been two other consistent starters for NCCU, and those guards are averaging around seven and six points, respectively. McBride tops the Eagles with 3.7 assists per game and also averages 2.1 steals per game.
Senior
Kieche White has missed six games this season due to injury, but has led the maroon and gray in scoring in all three games she has played for an average of 18.0 points per game.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN BENCH:
The Georgia Southern Eagles are 9-10 on the season, including 5-7 in the Sun Belt Conference, and are coming off a split of two games against Georgia State University. The home team won each game last week as GS maintains a winning 6-4 record at home this season.
The blue and white has a balanced offense, as its five primary starters all averaging within five points of each other. Senior guard A'Tyanna Gaulden, who previously played at University of Arkansas, leads the group with 10.9 points per game as well as leading the team with 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Georgia Southern is forcing its opponents into nearly 20 turnovers per game and the Eagles are a top-25 team nationally ranked team with 10.7 steals per game.
Sophomore forward Shondell Vickers, who is netting 7.6 points per game, tops GS on the backboards with 7.0 rebounds per game for a squad that has a +6.1 rebounding advantage per game on the season.
SERIES:
First meeting.
