CofC at Georgia Southern Game Notes
1/18/2008 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
? The College of Charleston travels to Georgia Southern for a 3:00 p.m. game Saturday, Jan. 19th ... The two teams split the series last year with the Eagles taking the 52-50 decision Feb. 24th at home ... The Eagles own the a 23-8 series record but the Cougars have taken at least one game the last three season series ...
? The Cougars are 9-7 overall and 5-1 in the league ... they have won their last four in a row and are coming off a 59-44 win over Wofford Jan. 17th at the John Kresse Arena ... Charleston is led by Jill Furstenburg with her 12.9 points per game ... Nikki Williams leads in rebounds with 6.9 a game ...
? Georgia Southern is 9-8 overall and 5-1 in the SoCon, sitting tied with the Cougars at second in the standings ... Tiffany Brown leads the team with 12.2 points per game ... Shawnda Atwood follows with 11.1 a game ... Atwood also leads in rebounds with 5.9 a game ... The Eagles have won four straight and are coming off a 59-53 win against Furman ...
? Charleston held Wofford to 25.5 percent from the field and 44 total points ... It marked the third straight game the Cougars have held their opponent to under 30 percent and under 45 points ...
? Jill Furstenburg was honored as SoCon Player-of-the-Week this week ... It was the first honor this season for Furstenburg and the Cougars ... Furstenburg led the team in scoring the past two games, with 21 against Furman and 18 against Wofford. The 21 points was just one from her career-high. She shot 66.7 percent from beyond the three-point arc, going four-for-six and was nine-for-10 from the charity stripe. Furstenburg leads the team this season with 12.9 points a game and is second in the conference. She has posted double-digit scoring in 12 of 16 games this season, scoring over 20 in two of them and over 15 in six ...
? The Cougars will be looking to make history against the Georgia Southern Eagles Saturday ... Charleston has never started 6-1 in league play, not in the TAAC (now Atlantic Sun) or the Southern Conference ...
? The Cougars' win against Wofford was their fourth in a row and marked the first time since the 2004-05 season, CofC has won four in a row ... should CofC win at Georgia Southern Saturday, it would be the first five-game winning streak for the Cougars since early in the 2002-03 season ...
? The Cougars find a way to step up their game during conference play ... Out of conference play, Jill Furstenburg averages just 10.7 a game, while Nikki Williams averages 3.5 a game ... in SoCon action, Furstenburg averages 16.7 a game, while Williams averages an impressive 10.7 ... as a team, the Cougars average 44.5 rebounds in league play, and just 38.5 out ... CofC has outscored its conference opponents by an average of 12.8 points per game, compared to being outscored by 2.8 in non-conference play ... Charleston finished its out-of conference schedule 4-6 ...
? Following Furstenburg's team-leading 12.9 points a game, two other Cougars are averaging around nine a game ... Kotcella has 8.8 a game, while Erika Smith has 8.8 ...
? CofC pulled down a season-high 51 rebounds against Appalachian State ... the 51 rebounds ranks fourth in the CofC Division I record books ...
? Erika Smith has taken sole possession of second in the CofC Division I career blocks lists ... she has 142, which is 13 more then third-place Wilma Simpson with her 129 ...
? The Cougars rank 17th in the nation in scoring defense with 54.1 and 4th in FG pct. defense with 33.6 ... Erika Smith is 50th in blocked shots with 1.9 ... these stats are accurate as of Jan. 13th ...
? Maybe the Cougars just needed to get out of November ... Charleston was 0-4 during the month of November ... The Cougars shot just 33.3 percent from the field and only averaged 51.0 points per game ... Charleston was outrebounded 48.2 to 37.0 and was only 13-of-29 from the free throw line ... In December, the Cougars were 5-2 and shot 43.0 percent from the field, outscoring the other teams by an average of 12.0 points (68.0 - 55.7) ... CofC outrebounded the opposition 288-263 and averaged 41.1 a game, compared to 37.6 for the other team ... Charleston also made 79-of-115 free throws ... The Cougars are 4-1 in January and are averaging 54.5 points per game, shooting 33.7 percent from the field ... Opponents average 45.5 ppg and are shooting 29.2 percent ... Charleston is also 61-for-80 (55-for-94 for the opposition) from the free throw line and is averaging 43.3 rebounds per game, compared to 36.8 for the opposition ...
? Either the Cougars win big or lose big ... Charleston is averaging 19.9 point deficit in the losses ... CofC, however, has won its nine games by an average of 20.9 points ... Charleston shoots 41.7 percent in the wins but just 32.8 in the losses ... Two Cougars score in double-figures in the wins (Kotcella with 12.0 and Furstenburg with 15.6), but none are in double-figures in losses ...
? The Cougars were a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line in the loss to Davidson ... that was a CofC Division I record (minimum 10 made) ...
? Charleston did something it hasn't done since the 2001-02 season, win back-to-back games on the road ... Charleston last won two in a row on the road Jan. 12, 2002 at Appalachian State and Jan. 14, 2002 at Western Carolina ... Charleston recently defeated Elon and UNC Greensboro on the road ...
? Charleston is shooting better than its opponents overall, posting a 37.6 shooting percentage, compared to 34.2 for the opponents ...
? Despite the loss of two starters, including leading scorer Jade Hughes who averaged 11.1 points per game last season, the Cougars return 65.9 percent of their scoring, 64.4 percent of their rebounding and 63.9 percent of their minutes played from last year's team.
? Construction of the new Carolina first Center is well underway ... expected completion date is next October ... The Cougars are expected to begin playing in the new arena next season ... the 5,000 seat arena will also house all of the athletic offices for coaches and staff and will include a new Academic Support Center, a dedicated media room, a new training room and a new weight room, among many other features ... Charleston owns a 207-133 mark in the current John Kresse Arena, which includes 15 winning records in the 25 years the building has been open ... The Carolina First Center sits adjacent to the F. Mitchell Johnson Center and faces Meeting Street ...
? The Cougars are 22-0 when holding opponents to under 30% FG percentage since joining the Southern Conference in 1998-99 ... Charleston last held Wofford to just 25.5 percent Jan. 14, 2008 ... Charleston has held five opponents this season to under 30% ...
? Charleston was picked to finish 10th in the SoCon Pre-season poll ... the Cougars finished last season 10-20 overall, 5-13 in the league and eighth in the standings ... Currently, the Cougars are second in the league with a 3-1 SoCon record ...
? The College of Charleston ended the 2006-07 season tops in several categories in the Southern Conference ...Charleston led the league in scoring defense (59.8) and field goal percentage defense (.383) ... The Cougars were in the top five in other areas as well, including second in blocked shots (4.3) third in rebounding defense (37.9) and third in offensive rebounds (15.8).
? Charleston welcomed three newcomers to the team this year ... Tonia Gerty comes from Port Orange, Fla., and graduated from Spruce Creek high School ... her high school team was conference champion for three years ... she broke the assists and steals record as well and was recently selected to the Spruce Creek High School Hall of Fame ... Megan King graduated last May from Canterbury where she led her team to the regional finals two years and the state semifinals one year ... She was the third leading scorer in the state and among the state's leaders in steals and free throw percentage ... King's sister, Rachel, played for the Cougars from 2001-05 ... Jayme Warner hails from Tallahassee, Fla., and graduated from Florida State High School ... Her team was district runners-up her first two seasons and district and state champions her last two. She was a captain and MVP her junior and senior years.
? All games will be broadcast this year at CofCSports.com ... Home games will feature audio as well as video, while road games will feature just audio broadcasts ... To access the video and/or audio of the games users go to www.CofCSports.com and under the "Inside the Pride" logo on the right click ?subscribe' ... After subscribing to CofCSports.com users can access the schedule of events by clicking the link ?Live Events' listed in the menu on the left.
? Will Herring, in his second season with Cougar women's basketball, will handle all internet radio play-by-play duties. The senior from Lexington, S.C., is a Communications major and is a 2004 graduate of Irmo High School.
