GREENVILLE, S.C. – After forging a split in two Southern Conference road games last week, Furman's women's basketball squad returns home to tip off its league slate on Thursday against reigning SoCon regular season and tournament champion UNC Greensboro.
Tipoff for the ESPN+ streamed event is set for 7:00 p.m. at Timmons Arena.
Furman (9-8, 1-1 SoCon), which has won seven of its last 10 games, opened league play with a 72-70 triumph at East Tennessee State last Thursday before tallying, 61-44, at Chattanooga on Saturday.
UNCG (12-5, 2-0 SoCon) comes to Greenville sporting a seven-game winning streak — its two most recent conquests coming last week against Samford, 73-64, and Mercer, 76-59, at home.
The Spartans have claimed the last seven meetings with the Paladins to take a 36-28 lead in a historically even played series. That burst includes three consecutive triumphs in Greenville.
To halt UNCG's run of success this season and in its series, Furman will need a bounce back performance from several players beginning with
Clare Coyle (14.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg), who suffered through a frustrating 3-for-14 shooting effort against Chattanooga, as did the Paladins overall (.276, 16x58). Coyle, a sophomore preseason All-SoCon selection, still leads the league in field goal percentage (.557) and improved on her league leading rebounding numbers with 16 caroms versus the Mocs. She is third in the conference in scoring.
Sophomore Elon transfer
Alyssa Ervin (12.2 ppg) came up big with 18 points in the win over ETSU, including a heavily guarded, game winning shot with 20 seconds remaining.
A return to form by
Raina McGowens (9.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg) looms as a big key to the Paladins' hopes for the league campaign. The Paladin sophomore is capable of big production as indicated in her career high 24-point performance in a 90-89 win over Georgia State in November.
A host of other players have established significant roles this season in a campaign that began with no returning starters from a year ago. They include point guards
Sophia Pearl (6.4 ppg, 52 ast.) and
Chantelle Stuart (6.2 ppg, 65 ast.), George Washington forward transfer
Kyraha Parnell (5.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Gardner-Webb guard transfer
Lauren Bailey (5.8 ppg, .349 3PFG%), guard
Samaria Taylor (4.5 ppg), and Boston University forward transfer
Channing Warren (3.8 ppg).
In addition to the live stream, fans can also follow the action via Sidearm live stats and receive timely updates and highlight clips thru @FurmanWBB's "X" account. Links to the livestream and stats are available on Furman's women's basketball schedule page at FurmanPaladins.com
