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Women's Basketball Heads to Ball State for Thanksgiving Weekend

       

Women's Basketball Heads to Ball State for Thanksgiving Weekend

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Coastal Women’s Hoops Heads to Ball State For Thanksgiving Weekend

The Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball team (2-0) will look to keep its winning ways going as the Lady Chanticleers travel to Muncie, Ind., for the Ball State Federal Credit Union Thanksgiving Tournament Nov. 25-26. Coastal will face Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (2-1) in the first round Saturday, Nov. 25 at 3 p.m. Coastal has opened the season with two wins, including a 90-31 win over Southern Virginia Nov. 20.

Scouting IPFW

IPFW is coming off a 73-69 overtime loss to Big South foe UNC Asheville Nov. 18 in the championship game of the Carolinas First Classic in Asheville, N.C. In that game, Johnna Lewis-Carlisle had a game high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Four players scored in double figures in the Mastodons’ 77-74 win over Kennesaw State in the first round of the tournament. On the year, Lewis-Carlisle is averaging 19.3 points a game, while Samantha Edwards is pulling down 6.7 rebounds a game.

IPFW is coached by Chris Paul, who is in his second season in Fort Wayne. He has an 8-15 record both at the school and in his career.

Series vs. IPFW

This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

Coastal Has Hoosier State Connections

Coastal Carolina has three players and an assistant coach that are from the State of Indiana. Senior Calisha Yates (Columbus, Ind./East) and freshmen Amanda Stull (Rushville, Ind./Rushville Consolidated) and Lori Whitaker (Bloomington, Ind./North) all are from the Hoosier State. Assistant coach Mark Kost is from Evansville, Ind., and went to school at Notre Dame.

De-Fense, De-Fense

Coastal Carolina held Southern Virginia to 31 points Nov. 20, the second lowest point total in school history by an opponent. Southern Virginia shot 25.5 percent and went 1-of-15 from the three-point line. The school record for lowest points in a game by an opponent is 23 by Coker during the 1982-83 season.

Stull Named Big South Freshman of the Week

Coastal Carolina freshman women’s basketball player Amanda Stull (Rushville, Ind./Rushville Consolidated) was selected as the Big South Conference New Balance Freshman of the Week for games played Nov. 13-19, the League announced.

Stull, a guard, connected on all four of her shots from the field and posted eight points in Coastal’s 70-56 win over the College of Charleston Nov. 16. She also dished out two assists and came up with three steals and one rebound for the Lady Chants in the win.

Stull becomes Coastal’s first Big South Freshman of the Week since Whitney Shearer was named on Feb. 5, 2001.

Chairwomen of the Boards

Coastal Carolina grabbed 63 rebounds in the 90-31 win over Southern Virginia Nov. 20. The Lady Chants had 32 offensive rebounds in the win and five players had six or more boards. Junior Joanna Pekonen (Lappeenranta, Finland/Lafayette) led the team with eight boards, while freshman Lacey Lyons (Beverly Hills, Fla./Crystal River) and redshirt freshman Elizabeth Weaver (Unicoi, Tenn./Unicoi County) had seven apiece.

Playing with the Lead

In Coastal’s first two games this season, the Chanticleers have trailed a total of 1:20. Coastal was down for 43 seconds in the College of Charleston game before senior Vanessa Laug’s (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) layup made it 3-2 Coastal. Against Southern Virginia, Coastal trailed for 37 seconds before senior Alisha Dill’s (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hills) layup at 18:55 tied the game at two. That game was tied twice before Laug’s jumper at 17:23 gave the Lady Chants the lead throughout.

Coastal Improves in Season Openers with Win over CofC

Coastal Carolina improved to 8-2 in season openers under head coach Alan LeForce with its 70-56 win over the College of Charleston Nov. 16. Coastal shot 51 percent from the field in winning its second straight opener on the road.

Dill Picks Up Where She Left Off

Senior Alisha Dill (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) scored 26 points, one off a career high, in the 70-56 win over the College of Charleston Nov. 16. Dill was 8-of-19 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. Her career high is 27 points at UNC Asheville on Feb. 18, 2006.

New Kids on the Block

Coastal played four newcomers in the win over the Cougars and they combined for 21 points and eight rebounds. Junior Victoria Blanchard (Eutawville, S.C./Walters State C.C.) made her first career start and had seven points and two assists. Freshman Amanda Stull (Rushville, Ind./Rushville Consolidated) was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field for eight points while adding two assists. Freshman Lacey Lyons (Beverly Hills, Fla./Crystal River) hit two big three-pointers for six points, while freshman Devin Rivers (Miami, Fla./Felix Varela) had five rebounds and three assists.

Chanticleers Picked Fourth in the Big South

The Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll, as voted on by the League’s Head Coaches, Sports Information Directors and media panel. The announcement was made Oct. 10 in Charlotte, N.C., as part of the 2006-07 Tip-Off Media Luncheon.

Coastal received 117 points in the preseason poll. Liberty was picked to finish first for the 10th year in a row, as the Lady Flames garnered 21 first-place votes and finisihing with 202 points. The Lady Flames were followed by High Point (178 points, four first-place votes), Winthrop (136 points), Coastal, Radford (115 points, one first-place vote), UNC Asheville (100 points), Birmingham-Southern and Charleston Southern (44 points apiece).

Dill Returns for Senior Season

Senior Alisha Dill (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) returns for her fourth season in a Lady Chanticleer uniform after earning All-Big South Second Team honors in 2005-06. Dill averaged 11.3 points, which was second on the team, and 4.2 rebounds last season. She had a career high 27 points at UNC Asheville Feb. 18 and scored in double figures in 14 games, including three 20-plus point performances.

Head Coach Alan LeForce

Coastal head coach Alan LeForce (Cumberland (Ky.) ’57) is starting his 10th season as the Lady Chanticleers’ mentor. He has a 127-127 record at CCU and a 367-307 overall record in 24 seasons as a head coach. LeForce is the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in CCU history and is the only coach to win 100 games in both Division I men’s and women’s basketball.

New Faces for the Chants

Coastal Carolina has eight players on its roster that will play their first Division I season. Five of the eight newcomers are true freshmen, as Lauren Grochowski (Naperville, Ill./Central), Lacey Lyons (Beverly Hills, Fla./Crystal River), Devin Rivers (Miami, Fla./Felix Varela), Amanda Stull (Rushville, Ind./Rushville Consolidated) and Lori Whitaker (Bloomington, Ind./North) are just out of high school. Elizabeth Weaver (Unicoi, Tenn./Unicoi County) redshirted her first season at CCU, while Victoria Blanchard (Holly Hill, S.C./Holly Hill-Roberts) transferred from Walters State Community College. Heather Hummel (Franklin, Pa./Rocky Grove) transferred from Slippery Rock and will have one season of eligibility remaining.

CCU Signs Four Student-Athletes to National Letters-of-Intent

The Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball program has signed four student-athletes to National Letters-of-Intent, head coach Alan LeForce announced Nov. 9.

"We feel like we’ve added another strong class," LeForce said. "We think this group is every bit as good as the recruiting class last year. We’ve had two straight strong recruiting classes and that’s the way you build a program. We feel very good about it. We’ll still be young as we’ll have 10 freshmen and sophomores for next season, but they are good players."

The following is a list of the student-athletes coming to Coastal Carolina in 2007-08.

Name Pos. Ht. Hometown

Courtney Grambley F 6-1 Morrow, Ohio

Kate Jasinski G 5-6 Birmingham, Ala.

Jessica Noll F 6-0 Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Katie White C 6-3 St. Charles, Ill.

Blanchard Makes Immediate Impression

Junior Victoria Blanchard (Holly Hill, S.C./Holly Hill-Roberts) opened her career at Coastal by scoring 12 points and adding nine rebounds in the 57-51 exhibition win over Belmont Abbey Nov. 11. Blanchard was 4-for-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Out of her nine rebounds, four came on the offensive side of the glass.

Laug Starts Redshirt Senior Campaign

Redshirt senior Vanessa Laug (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) started her fifth season Thursday night against the College of Charleston. Laug redshirted during the 2002-03 campaign with a knee injury after playing four games for the Lady Chants. Laug has 170 points and 166 rebounds in her Coastal career.

All CCU Games to be Broadcast on the Internet

The Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball team will have every regular-season and post-season game broadcast on the internet during the 2006-07 season, the first time in school history that every minute of CCU women’s basketball will be on the air. Beginning with the season opener Nov. 16 against the College of Charleston, all 28 games will be available on www.GoCCUSports.com. The broadcast will start 10 minutes prior to tipoff.

In addition, every post-season game, beginning with the 2007 Advance Auto Parts Big South Tournament March 8 in Asheville, N.C., will be broadcast on both www.GoCCUSports.com and THE TEAM 93.9 FM in Myrtle Beach.

Big South to Video Stream All Women’s Basketball Conference Games

For the first time in League history, the Big South Conference will video stream live its women’s basketball home Conference games free on the its premium content website, The Big South EDGE presented by Aéropostale, it was announced by Big South Commissioner Kyle B. Kallander. All Conference games involving Big South members will be available exclusively online beginning with the 2006-07 season, and the webcasts will utilize a one-to-three camera production with home audio, when available.

The video stream of women’s basketball games and all Big South events, which will also be available on a video-on-demand 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 $69.95 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.

Coastal’s first game on the EDGE will be Jan. 13 against Liberty in Kimbel Arena at 2 p.m.

Coastal Loses Scoring from Last Season

Coastal Carolina graduated 59.6 percent of its scoring off last year’s team, including two double-digit scorers in Amber Rose (11.5 ppg) and Kim Turner (11.0 ppg). Coastal does return Alisha Dill and Calisha Yates, who averaged 11.3 and 9.4 points per game, respectively.

Mo Knows Boards

Senior Calisha Yates (Columbus, Ind./Chattanooga State C.C.) returns for her final campaign after leading the team with 7.0 rebounds per game in 2005-06. Yates had five 10-plus rebound performances, including a career high 13 boards against Radford Feb. 13.

Ware Controls Point

Junior C.J. Ware (Decatur, Ga./Lakeside) will be the starting point guard for the Lady Chants to start the season. Ware was second on the team with 61 assists last season and added 35 steals. Ware started 26 of Coastal’s 28 games in 2005-06 and averaged 2.8 points per game.

Up Next

Coastal will face either Ball State or Howard in the championship/consolation game of the Ball State Federal Credit Union Thanksgiving Tournament Sunday at either 1 or 3 p.m.