WILMINGTON, North Carolina – With the Christmas holiday just a few days, Coach Adell Harris and the UNCW women's basketball team will try to gain an early present when they host Charleston Southern in the final game of the 2014 Seahawks Hampton Inn Christmas Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Trask Coliseum.
The Seahawks and the Buccaneers will tip-off at approximately 2:00 p.m. or 35 minutes after the conclusion of the first game between East Tennessee State and Jacksonville State, which will start at 12:00 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on the Seahawk Digital Network, which is available exclusively on UNCWSports.com.
Now 3-5 on the season, the Seahawks ended a five-game losing streak on Friday afternoon by earning a 61-48 victory over East Tennessee State in the first game of the tournament. Playing before a sellout crowd of 5,141 fans, the Seahawks led for nearly 35 minutes and limited the Buccaneers, who entered the game as the top-scoring team in the Southern Conference, to a season-low 48 points.
Senior guard Kelva Atkins (Granville Central H.S./Stem, N.C.) led the Seahawks to the victory by scoring a game-high 19 points. Atkins, who has scored in double figures in seven of the team's eight games this year, nearly recorded a "double double" with nine rebounds against ETSU.
Atkins was one of three UNCW players to score in double figures against the Buccaneers. Making her first start of the season, junior guard Shatia Cole (Myrtle Beach H.S./Myrtle Beach, S.C.) scored 11 points with three rebounds and three assists. Sophomore guard Amber Reeves (North Cobb H.S./Marietta, Ga.) also contributed 11 points with five rebounds while playing a season-high 39 minutes.
The Seahawks' leading scorer with a 16.6 average, Atkins will enter Saturday's game needing just 40 points to become the 16th player in school history to record 1,000 career points. She has made 38.9 percent of her field goal attempts this year while leading the Seahawks with 29 assists.
Meanwhile, sophomore guard Brie Mobley (Winter Haven H.S./Winter Haven, Fla.) is contributing 13.5 points per game despite missing Friday's win over the Buccaneers.
Charleston Southern will be trying to earn its second win in the last eight games when the Buccaneers face UNCW on Saturday afternoon. The Buccaneers dropped to 3-6 on the season after suffering a 70-43 setback against Jacksonville State in the second game of Friday's doubleheader.
Freshman guard Alecia Hardy (E.E. Smith H.S./Fayetteville, N.C.) scored 10 points off the bench for the Buccaneers while junior forward Christal Bennett (Charlotte Christian H.S./Charlotte, N.C.) added eight points. However, Charleston Southern was limited to just 28.1 percent shooting from the field and were outrebounded by a 61-37 margin.
Sophomore forward Tatum Jarvis (Mt. Tabor H.S./Winston-Salem, N.C.) is the Buccaneers' leading scorer with an 11.0 point per game average. However, she was limited to just 1-for-11 shooting from the field against Jacksonville State and scored a season-low two points. Senior forward Alise Karlsone (Saldus, Latvia) ranks second on the team by averaging 9.6 points per contest.
Charleston Southern and UNCW will be meeting for the 24th time in a series the Seahawks lead by a commanding 22-1 margin. UNCW has won the last four games in the series and has a 12-0 home record in the all-time series.
After Saturday's game, the Seahawks will be idle until Monday, Dec. 29 when they visit Florida Atlantic for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference game. It will start a stretch where UNCW will play six road games during the next eight contests.
Tickets for Friday's game are available by calling the UNCW Ticket Office at 1-800-808-UNCW (8629) or by visiting UNCWSports.com.
