JACKSONVILLE - The Jacksonville State University women's basketball team will travel to Florence, Alabama for the first ASUN Conference road contest of the season against North Alabama at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8.
 
Saturday's matchup marks the 43^rd meeting between the two programs and the first in 26 years. In addition, the contest is the first between both schools as Division I teams. JSU leads the all-time series 21-20 and is 7-12 on the road. 
 
The Gamecocks opened ASUN play against Bellarmine at home on Wednesday, winning 72-63.

The game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Fans can follow live stats at JSUGamecocksports.com and listen to the game with Mike Parris on the JSU Gamecock Sports Network.
 
Imari Martin led the Gamecocks with a season-high 22 points against the Knights on Wednesday while shooting 6-of-14 from three-point range. Seniors Kiana Johnson and Kaiya Burnett each added double-figure points with 15 and 14, respectively. Burnett's 14 points off the bench was also a career-high. The Gamecocks recorded a season-high 19 assists in the win and were led by Thompson with eight.
 
Martin and junior Nekiyah Thompson are JSU's top two scorers at 11.3 points and 10.0 points per game, respectively. Thompson also leads the Gamecocks in assists, averaging 4.3 per game and leads the ASUN with a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Senior Kennedy Gavin is the sixth-best rebounder in the ASUN and leads JSU with 7.0 rebounds per game.
 
On the defensive end, the Gamecocks are allowing just 54.8 points per game and are undefeated when allowing less than 60 points. Offensively, JSU is scoring 68.8 points per game and is the only team in the ASUN in the top four in scoring defense and scoring offense. Jax State is 5-0 when scoring 70 points or more.

North Alabama enters the contest 5-7 overall and has played just one game since Dec. 21^st. The Lions feature the second-best scoring offense in the ASUN at 73.5 points per game. North Alabama enters Saturday's matchup on a two-game losing skid.
 
Four Lions rank inside the top-20 in scoring in the ASUN this season led by Julia Strachan at 15.2 points per game. Strachan is also shooting 45.5 percent from three-point range and making a league-high 3.8 threes per game. Three-point shooting is a strength for North Alabama as the squad leads the ASUN from deep with a 35 percent clip. While the offense is elite, UNA's defense has proven vulnerable. The Lions are the 11^th ranked defense in the ASUN allowing 71.8 points per game and a 44.2 percent field-goal percentage to their opponents.

 Tip-off against North Alabama is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT. Links to live stats and other available sources will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com as well as shared across JSU's social media platforms when they become available. In-game updates are also available by following the women's basketball twitter account (@JaxStateWBB).