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Women's Basketball Opens 2008-09 Campaign Against Erskine

       

Women's Basketball Opens 2008-09 Campaign Against Erskine

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Coastal Carolina begins the 2008-09 campaign against Erskine College Friday, November 14 at Kimbel Arena. The Chanticleers return eight letterwinners from last season’s16-12 squad, and welcome four newcomers. Coastal Carolina Head Coach Alan LeForce will be seeking his 400th career victory when the Chants hit the court tonight. LeForce fell just shy of the mark last year when the Chanticleers dropped a 62-51 decision to High Point in the quarterfinal of the 2008 Advance Auto Parts Big South Women’s Basketball Championship. 

Scouting Erskine Jessica Ridgill was appointed head coach of the Lady Fleet March 11, 2008. Before stepping into her new role, Ridgill served as an assistant coach with the Lady Fleet for the past five years. She takes over a team that finished 4-23 overall last season and 3-17 in the Conference Carolinas (NCAA DII). Erskine returns four of its five starters, who made up 53 percent of its scoring last year. Junior Audrey Timmerman started 23 of 25 games, leading the Lady Fleet with 12.7 points per game and shot .812 from the free throw line. Junior Mary Ann Langford controls the glass for Erskine, coming off a season where she grabbed 113 rebounds.      Series vs. Erskine Series Record: Erskine leads13-5 This series dates back to the 1975-76 season, Coastal Carolina’s second season of women’s basketball. The two squads played 16 games in the first 11 years. The Chanticleers and the Lady Fleet will take to the court for the first meeting in 23 years. Erskine claimed the first 10 contests, outscoring Coastal Carolina 71.7 to 55.4. The Chants won five of the past six meetings against the Lady Fleet, including an 83-80 victory in the last outing during the 1985-86 season, the first season of Division I play for Coastal Carolina.   LeForce looking for 400 With the onset of the 2008-09 season, Coastal Carolina Head Coach Alan LeForce will be vying for his 400th win. LeForce is in his 12th season as the Chanticleers’ mentor and has compiled a 159-150 record at Coastal Carolina and a 399-330 overall record in 25 seasons as a head coach. LeForce is the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in Coastal Carolina history and is the only coach to win 100 games in both Division I men’s and women’s basketball.   Stull-erific!  Junior Amanda Stull has played in every game for the Chanticleers since stepping foot on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. During her freshman year, Stull entered all 29 contests for the Chants, averaging 20.2 minutes per game. Last season, Stull became an important piece of the puzzle, starting all 28 games recording career bests in several categories including points (6.3 ppg), assists (2.4 apg) and rebounds (3.9 rpg).   S-E-N-I-O-R-S? Coastal Carolina’s 2008-09 roster lists no seniors. This is the first time in Head Coach Alan LeForce’s 12 years he will be missing that senior leadership. However, the 2008-09 squad is rich in talent and experience. LeForce believes this is one of the most talented groups he and his staff have ever assembled at Coastal Carolina.   All Aboard!!! For the fourth consecutive season, Coastal Carolina will have the same coaching staff on the bench. Head Coach Alan LeForce begins his 12th season at the helm for the Chanticleers. Frank Moorhead is in his seventh season with the Chants, Mark Kost starts his sixth season and Shameka Montgomery begins her fourth season as assistant coaches for the Chanticleers. This staff has put together a squad that has gone 52-33 (.612) in the past three seasons.   Coastal Carolina in Season Openers Coastal Carolina is 17-17 all-time in season openers and has won nine of its past 10 lidlifters. Under Head Coach Alan LeForce, Coastal Carolina is 9-2 in season openers. Last season, the Chanticleers scored six points in the final minute of the game to down Wofford in a 59-58 thriller at Kimbel Arena (Nov. 11). Sydnei Moss scored on an offensive rebound and stole the ensuing inbound pass, finding Vicky Blanchard who connected on two of her game-high 18 points with 11 seconds remaining to give the Chanticleers the victory.   Blocking Back Coastal Carolina returns its top three blockers from last season. Sophomore Katie White, who stands at 6-foot-3, led the Chants last season, denying 41 shots. White immediately jumped into the Coastal Carolina record books, holding the fifth spot for most blocks in a single season. Juniors Devin Rivers and Amanda Stull followed suit, combining for 29 blocks. The three players accounted for 67 percent of the Chanticleers’ blocks in 2007-08.   Hitting the Boards Graduated senior Vicky Blanchard led the Chanticleers the past two seasons in rebounds, and of course Blanchard’s 6.6 rebounds the past two years will be missed. However, there is no doubt the Chanticleers will continue to grab rebounds this season with juniors Devin Rivers and Amanda Stull leading the way. Rivers was second on the team last year averaging 5.5 rebounds a game. Stull pulled down 4.0 rebounds for the Chants.     New Faces The Chanticleers welcome four newcomers to the team in transfers Kendra Reynolds and Lindsey Waters and freshmen Taylor Epley and Olivia Irick. Reynolds, a junior transfer from Olney Central JC, will sit out the first half of the season due to NCAA regulations and Waters will miss the entire season after transferring from Eastern Kentucky. Epley and Irick will look to transition to the college game and contribute this season.    Chants Tabbed Sixth in Preseason Poll The Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball team has been picked to tie for sixth place in this season’s Big South Conference Preseason Poll, the conference announced at Media Day Tuesday, Oct. 14 in Concord, N.C. The poll was voted on by the league’s coaches and selected media members. Liberty, the 2008 Big South Champion, was the clear preseason favorite after receiving 17 of 19 first-place votes and 169 points. Winthrop was predicted second with 143 points and High Point placed third with 129 points. Radford earned one first-place vote, landing in fourth spot with 116 points, followed by UNC Asheville who edged out the Chanticleers with 75 points. Coastal Carolina and Gardner-Webb each tallied 73 points, while Charleston Southern (55 points) and Presbyterian (22 points) were voted eighth and ninth, respectively. For the third consecutive year, Liberty’s Megan Frazee was selected as the Preseason Player of the year and to the Preseason All-Conference Team. Frazee is joined by teammate Moriah Frazee, Ashley Fann (Winthrop), Pamela Tolbert (Charleston Southern) and Johnette Walker (Radford) as preseason All-Conference selections.   All Coastal Carolina Games To Be Broadcast On the Internet For the second straight year, the Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball team will broadcast every regular-season and postseason game. Beginning with the season opener Nov. 14 against Erskine, all 28 regular season games and postseason contests will be available at ww.GoCCUsports.com. The broadcasts will start 10 minutes prior to tipoff. Describing the action will be Chris Burgin, who enters his second year as “The Voice of Chanticleers Women’s Basketball.” Burgin came to Coastal Carolina after spending the previous eight years as play-by-play voice for Big South Conference rival Presbyterian College. During his tenure with the Blue Hose, Burgin handled the broadcasts for football, men’s and women’s basketball, along with baseball and softball. He was behind the microphone when the PC football team won the South Atlantic Conference championship and recorded the school’s first NCAA football playoff appearance in 2005. Burgin was also witness to a Division II “Sweet 16” trip by the men’s basketball team in 2003 and numerous appearances in the postseason by the women’s basketball squad. Burgin, a 1992 graduate of the University of South Carolina, is currently employed by SportsRadio 1410 WPCC in Clinton. In addition, every postseason game, beginning with the 2009 Advance Auto Parts Big South Tournament March 12 in High Point, N.C., will be broadcast on both ww.GoCCUSports.com and THE TEAM 93.9 FM in Myrtle Beach.   Big South To Video Stream All Women’s Basketball Conference Games Coastal Carolina will video stream all home games this season on THE EDGE, the Big South’s streaming website. Coastal Carolina will also have every game of the Big South schedule on THE EDGE as well as complete coverage of the 2009 Advance Auto Parts Big South Tournament in High Point, N.C. The video stream of women’s basketball games and all Big South events, which will also be available on a video-ondemand basis for subscribers of The EDGE, requires a high-speed internet connection (DSL, cable or above), Microsoft Windows Media Player 9.0 or greater downloaded and installed, and a screen resolution of 800x600 or greater, among other requirements. An annual subscription of The EDGE costs $79.95 and runs one year from the date of sign-up and includes live sporting events and championships, interviews and exclusive access to on-demand video and features.   Chants Fall To High Point in Quarterfinal A 22-2 run enabled No. 4-seed High Point to erase a 14-point second-half deficit and claim a 62-51 victory over No. 5-seed Coastal Carolina in the Advance Auto Parts Big South Women’s Basketball Championship quarterfinal, at the Justice Center March 14, 2008. High Point controlled play around the basket on the afternoon, owning a 47-36 rebounding edge and a 32-14 advantage in points in the paint.   Trio Takes Home Big South Honors Senior Vicky Blanchard was named to the All-Big South Second Team, her first career All-Big South honor. Blanchard led the Chanticleers in rebounds with 160, grabbing 7.6 per game and finished second on the team in scoring averaging 10.4 points per game. Freshman Sydnei Moss became the fourth Chanticleer in the past two seasons to earn Big South All-Freshman Team honors. Moss ended the season ranked seventh in the league in scoring (7.7 ppg), while averaging 3.3 rebounds per contest. Senior C.J. Ware was named to the Big South All-Academic Team for the second straight season. Ware, an elementary education major with a 3.69 grade-point-average, averaged 6.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.    Moss Picks Up Second Freshman of the Week Nod Sydnei Moss earned the New Balance Freshman of the Week honors March 10, 2008, marking her second award of the 2007-08 this season. Moss put in 13 points and corralled six rebounds to help Coastal Carolina to a 58-45 win over Charleston Southern on March 5. She connected on 5-of-9 from the floor for a 56-percent clip and added 3-of-5 from the charity stripe and one steal.   Trio of Chants Honored On Senior Day Seniors Vicky Blanchard, Joanna Pekonen and C.J. Ware were honored on Senior Day before Coastal Carolina’s game against High Point March 1, 2008. The trio finished their careers combining for 886 points, 694 rebounds and 323 assists at Coastal Carolina.   Chanticleers Drop 99 Points on Morris Coastal Carolina registered 99 points in its win over Morris Jan. 7. It was the most points Coastal Carolina has scored since it put up 119 points against Southern Virginia Feb. 26, 2003. It was the second time in a row the Chanticleers have put up at least 90 against Morris. It also was the 26th time in Coastal Carolina history that the team has scored more than 90 points. With the win, the Chants earned their 10th win of the year, tying the 1982-83 squad for the fastest team to 10 wins in a season.   Chants Post Best Start In Program History For the first time in school history, Coastal Carolina started the 2007-08 season with seven straight wins. The previous record was the beginning of the 2003-04 season, where the Chanticleers posted four consecutive wins before falling to East Carolina (Dec. 7, 2003). In the seven-game stretch, Coastal Carolina used the first half to bury its opponents averaging an 11 point lead heading into the break in each game. The Chants outscored their opponents by an average of 18.0 points per game, while forcing 24.1 turnovers a contest. The Chants unbeaten streak ended Dec. 5 with a 74-46 loss at UNC Wilmington.   Chanticleers Garner Co-Player, Freshman of the Week Coastal Carolina’s Vicky Blanchard was named the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Co-Player of the Week, while Sydnei Moss nabbed the New Balance Freshman of the Week for games played through Nov. 11, 2007. Blanchard posted 18 points, nine boards and two steals leading the Chanticleers to a 59-58 win over Wofford on Nov. 11. With Coastal Carolina down by one in the closing seconds of the game, Blanchard hit the game winning bucket with :11 seconds left as Coastal Carolina held on to pick up its first win of the year. For the game she connected on 73-percent of her shots on 8-of-11 from the floor, put in two shots from the charity stripe and ripped down nine boards. Moss came up big in her first collegiate game against Wofford. In the closing seconds of the contest, Moss ripped down an offensive rebound and put it back up to cut the Terrier lead to one. She then stole the in-bounds pass and found an open Blanchard for the game-winning shot. In just 20 minutes of action, she recorded eight points, seven rebounds, two steals and dished out two assists.   Up Next for the Chanticleers: Campbell Lady Camels Date: Monday, Nov. 17 Time: 7 p.m. At: Kimbel Arena – Conway, S.C. Series Record: Campbell leads 18-13 Last Meeting: Coastal Carolina won 61-54 (Nov. 27, 2007) Campbell 2008-09: Head Coach Wanda Watkins begins her 28th year at the helm, and 34th overall with the Lady Camels. Campbell returns nine players and will add four new faces to their lineup this season. The Lady Camels graduated three seniors, including two-time Atlantic Sun All-Conference performer Marlena Murphy. Campbell finished 12-18 last season, and 7-9 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Lady Camels open the 2008-09 season Saturday, Nov. 15, when they host Coker at 6 p.m.