Friday, November 17
JACKSONVILLE
6:30 P.M.
Jacksonville State University
vs
Alabama-Huntsville
UAH Visits The Pete for Home Opener
11/16/2023 1:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball
JACKSONVILLE – After dropping three contests to veteran squads on the road last week, Gamecock women's basketball is set for its 2023-24 home opener on Friday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum. That showdown in Jacksonville versus Alabama-Huntsville will tip-off at 6:30 p.m.
"We played an exhibition at home, but this is the first time at home that it counts," head coach Rick Pietri said. "After spending a full week on the road, getting back into your own building should be a little injection of juice from an energy standpoint."
Jacksonville State (0-3) lost each of its first-week showdowns away from home in the season's opening week. Following a 78-49 loss to an experienced Auburn squad on Monday, the Red-and-White could not slow down Utah Tech from the second period on in a 73-58 setback three days later. Though they started well at Mississippi State on Sunday, things snowballed in the second half leading to an 84-45 defeat against the 25th-ranked Bulldogs. Now, Pietri's group will try for its first win of the year at home in Friday's pairing with a solid Division II program.
Each regular season contest this season has seen at least one Gamecock tally a notable performance. The best individual showing on offense came at Utah Tech when junior college transfer Kristol Ayson went for 19 points and nine rebounds out west. Samiya Steele had double-digits scoring with 11 points at Auburn and three Gamecocks- Steele, Keiara Griffin, and Jaz Spencer- had eight points each at MSU's Humphrey Coliseum last Sunday. This time around, though, the entire team will look to produce at The Pete.
UAH (1-2) had an exhibition at Alabama to open the year on Nov. 1, then hosted the GSC-SSC Crossover last weekend in their first official regular season games. The Chargers, who are considering Friday's test another exhibition, lost to Florida Southern, 55-49, on Friday at Spragins Hall in Huntsville, Ala., before shocking No. 3 Tampa 65-59 to score a massive first win. They dropped another tight one at home to Trevecca Nazarene (60-57) to fall back below .500 on Wednesday night.
Tenth-year head coach Andrea Lemmond is expecting to have a big bounce-back year after the Chargers totaled just eight wins a season ago. They return three freshman who were in the top five of minutes played for the team last year as well as three GSC Newcomer Watchlist selections in high school standouts Shauna Fletcher and Bella White and Alabama A&M transfer Ikia Elam.
"UAH historically runs a Princeton-style offense and man-to-man defense, but one never knows in these kinds of games," Pietri said. "For non-D1 schools these are classified as exhibitions, so they can use these games for experimentation. We'll try to prepare ourselves as well as we can. What we do know is that they just lost at the buzzer to a team that beat Austin Peay at the start of the season, so we know they're no pushover."
Jax State is 1-0 versus UAH since the program's transition to Division I in 1995-96. That victory came in the Gamecocks' initial D1 season as they posted a 78-61 triumph in Calhoun County. The two sides met 11 times when both were NCAA Division II members. Jacksonville State had an 8-3 record against its GSC foe then.
Friday's game in Jacksonville will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the legendary Mike Parris on the call. Links to watch or follow along with live stats will be provided at Jax StateSports.com. In addition, score updates and highlights will be posted on Jax State Women's Basketball's X account (@JaxStateWBB).
"Our team has to show a willingness to compete for 40 full minutes and show improvement," Pietri said. "Those are things that I am most interested in seeing. We're going to have to battle to get what we want on Friday."
To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, follow their Facebook (Jacksonville State Women's Basketball), Instagram (@JaxStateWBB), and X (@JaxStateWBB) accounts.
"We played an exhibition at home, but this is the first time at home that it counts," head coach Rick Pietri said. "After spending a full week on the road, getting back into your own building should be a little injection of juice from an energy standpoint."
Jacksonville State (0-3) lost each of its first-week showdowns away from home in the season's opening week. Following a 78-49 loss to an experienced Auburn squad on Monday, the Red-and-White could not slow down Utah Tech from the second period on in a 73-58 setback three days later. Though they started well at Mississippi State on Sunday, things snowballed in the second half leading to an 84-45 defeat against the 25th-ranked Bulldogs. Now, Pietri's group will try for its first win of the year at home in Friday's pairing with a solid Division II program.
Each regular season contest this season has seen at least one Gamecock tally a notable performance. The best individual showing on offense came at Utah Tech when junior college transfer Kristol Ayson went for 19 points and nine rebounds out west. Samiya Steele had double-digits scoring with 11 points at Auburn and three Gamecocks- Steele, Keiara Griffin, and Jaz Spencer- had eight points each at MSU's Humphrey Coliseum last Sunday. This time around, though, the entire team will look to produce at The Pete.
UAH (1-2) had an exhibition at Alabama to open the year on Nov. 1, then hosted the GSC-SSC Crossover last weekend in their first official regular season games. The Chargers, who are considering Friday's test another exhibition, lost to Florida Southern, 55-49, on Friday at Spragins Hall in Huntsville, Ala., before shocking No. 3 Tampa 65-59 to score a massive first win. They dropped another tight one at home to Trevecca Nazarene (60-57) to fall back below .500 on Wednesday night.
Tenth-year head coach Andrea Lemmond is expecting to have a big bounce-back year after the Chargers totaled just eight wins a season ago. They return three freshman who were in the top five of minutes played for the team last year as well as three GSC Newcomer Watchlist selections in high school standouts Shauna Fletcher and Bella White and Alabama A&M transfer Ikia Elam.
"UAH historically runs a Princeton-style offense and man-to-man defense, but one never knows in these kinds of games," Pietri said. "For non-D1 schools these are classified as exhibitions, so they can use these games for experimentation. We'll try to prepare ourselves as well as we can. What we do know is that they just lost at the buzzer to a team that beat Austin Peay at the start of the season, so we know they're no pushover."
Jax State is 1-0 versus UAH since the program's transition to Division I in 1995-96. That victory came in the Gamecocks' initial D1 season as they posted a 78-61 triumph in Calhoun County. The two sides met 11 times when both were NCAA Division II members. Jacksonville State had an 8-3 record against its GSC foe then.
Friday's game in Jacksonville will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the legendary Mike Parris on the call. Links to watch or follow along with live stats will be provided at Jax StateSports.com. In addition, score updates and highlights will be posted on Jax State Women's Basketball's X account (@JaxStateWBB).
"Our team has to show a willingness to compete for 40 full minutes and show improvement," Pietri said. "Those are things that I am most interested in seeing. We're going to have to battle to get what we want on Friday."
To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, follow their Facebook (Jacksonville State Women's Basketball), Instagram (@JaxStateWBB), and X (@JaxStateWBB) accounts.
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's BasketballMonday, March 30
Saturday, March 07
Saturday, February 21
Saturday, February 07
