UPPER MARLBORO,
Maryland - The UNCW women's basketball team begins pursuit of its first
Colonial Athletic Association title Friday as it faces Drexel in quarterfinal
round action of the 2011 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Women's Basketball
Championship at the Show Place Arena.
The No. 3 seed Seahawks will face the No. 6 seed Dragons at
7:30 p.m. in the fourth quarterfinal contest of the championship after Drexel withheld
a second-half rally by Towson to defeat the Tigers, 52-46, in first-round competition
Thursday. The winner of Friday's contest will advance to the semifinals, where
they will face the winner of the No. 2 Old Dominion and No. 7 Delaware contest
Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Live stats and pay-per-view video for the championship are
available and can be accessed by clicking on the tournament central link above.
Hawkvision subscribers will be able to watch the contest for free by clicking
on the Hawkvision link at the top of the page. Fans will also be able to listen
to the game for free on the Seahawks Sports Network though the Yahoo! Broadcast
service. The Seahawks Sports Network broadcast will be begin approximately 15
minutes before the start of the contest and can be accessed by clicking on the
Seahawks Sports Network link above.
UNCW will look to make program history Friday as it carries
a 22-7 overall mark into the championship, needing just one more victory to
establish a new mark for wins in a season. First-Team All-CAA selection
Brittany Blackwell paces the CAA Coach-of-the-Year Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's squad
in scoring (16.1), rebounding (8.7), steals (3.1) and field goal percentage (.565)
while CAA Rookie-of-the-Year Alisha Andrews serves as the team's top playmaker
with a 5.0 assists per game average. Senior Martha White, a Second-Team All-CAA
pick, is second on the team in both scoring (13.0) and rebounding (7.3) and
paces the league in blocked shots (1.9).
Drexel will look to continue its strong play of late as it
brings a 19-11 overall record and a four-game winning streak into Friday's contest
after its six-point victory over the Tigers in the opening round Thursday. Second-Team
All-CAA selection junior Kamile Nacickaite guides the Dragons in scoring (17.9)
, rebounds (6.5) and steals (1.2) as she ranks among the top five in the nation
in three-point field goal percentage. Third-Team
All-CAA pick senior Jasmina Rosseel is second on the team in scoring (11.8) and
serves as the team's top playmaker with a 2.7 assists per game average.
The two programs are meeting for the first time in
postseason play as Drexel holds a 9-7 edge in the all-time series. UNCW has won
each of the past two meetings, including their lone regular-season matchup at
Trask Coliseum on Jan. 2 that saw the Seahawks shoot a season-high 64.4 percent
from the field and have four players score in double figures in the contest,
led by a career-high 16 points from sophomore guard Jessica Freeman.