Cougars Face UNCW in Opening Round of CAA Tournament

Wednesday, March 10

Elon, N.C.

2:30 PM

College of Charleston

UNCW

Cougars Face UNCW in Opening Round of CAA Tournament

3/9/2021 4:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Watch on Flosports

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Eight-seeded College of Charleston opens up play in the 2021 CAA Women's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday with a 2:30 game against No. 9 UNCW at the Schar Center in Elon, N.C.

COUGAR PROBABLE STARTERS
4 Amira Williams, F, 5-11, Fr., Winston-Salem, N.C./Winston-Salem Christian (6.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.5 spg)
5 Tyler Gray, G, 5-8, Fr., Bladensburg, Md./Elizabeth Seton (9.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.4 spg)
11 Chelsea Wooten, G, 5-8, Fr., McKinney, Texas/McKinney North (9.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 25 3-pointers)
15 Arynn Eady, F, 6-1, Jr., Atlanta, Ga./St. Francis (9.4 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1.5 spg, 2.0 bpg)
23 Tyler Collins, G, 5-6, Jr., Atlanta, Ga./Woodward Academy (13.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.3 spg, 21 3-pointers)

HEAD COACH ROBIN HARMONY (19-25 in second season at CofC; 265-139 in 14 seasons overall)
Robin Harmony is in her second season at CofC after leading the Cougars to a 13-17 record in 2019-20, a six-win improvement over the previous season and the most wins since going 19-15 in 2013-14. The team also doubled its CAA win total from three to six.

Harmony was 131-48 in six seasons at St. Thomas (Fla.) and 115-66 in six seasons at Lamar. She began her career as an assistant at her alma mater, the University of Miami, for two seasons (1985-87) and spent 1987-88 at Fair-leigh Dickinson before returning to Miami from 1988-2005, including the last 12 as associate head coach.

COUGARS HAVE MAJORITY OF CAA GAMES CANCELED
CofC only played eight of its scheduled 18 CAA games this season due to Covid-19 protocols. The Cougars had three straight series canceled between January 2-17 (home vs. Delaware and at Drexel and Northeastern) and had sets at Elon (February 13-14) and home against Hofstra (February 20-21) also called off.

CofC IN THE CAA TOURNAMENT
The Cougars are 3-7 in the CAA Tournament since joining the conference in 2013-14. That includes three games against UNCW (1-2).

Cougars in the CAA Tournament
2014 – Defeated Towson, 70-64; Lost to Delaware,60-52
2015 – Lost to Towson, 79-70
2016 – Defeated UNCW, 71-62; Lost to James Madison, 53-50
2017 – Lost to UNCW, 49-44
2018 – Defeated Hofstra, 88-72; Lost to James Madison, 81-6
2019 – Lost to William & Mary, 61-41
2020 – Lost to UNCW, 69-55

COUGARS DROP PAIR TO UNCW
CofC is coming off two losses to UNCW on February 26 and 28. The Cougars dropped a 68-66 heartbreaker at home and a 61-54 decision at Wilmington two days later.

Tyler Collins scored 18 points and dished out a season-high eight assists in the opening game. She was joined in double figures by Chelsea Wooten and Madison Taylor with 14 and 10 points, respectively, and Taylor tied Arynn Eady for the team lead in rebounds with seven. Eady also blocked three shots as did Zoe McCrary.

The Cougars trailed 67-63 when Anika McGarity drilled a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left. After the Seahawks made only one of two from the line, Amira Williams recovered a loose ball just outside the lane, but her shot missed as the clock hit zero.

Taylor scored a season-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers in the Sunday defeat. Wooten added 11 points, and Eady and Williams both had 10. The Cougars forced 29 UNCW turnovers and made 15 steals, with Williams registering four thefts and Eady, Collins and Taylor both making three.

EADY NAMED TO CAA ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Arynn Eady earned a spot on the CAA All-Defensive team after entering the tournament ranked third in the con-ference with an average of 8.9 rebounds per game, first in blocked shots (2.0) and 11th in steals (1.5).

Eady has at least eight boards in eight games this season, including five with 11 or more. Eady led the CAA a year ago with 9.7 per game, including 18 against UNCW and William & Mary, and had a 17-rebound game this season against NC Wesleyan. She set a career high in blocked shots with five against William & Mary and James Madison this season.

Eady also averages 9.4 points per game including a season-high 20 against Towson on January 7, just two off her career best.

Eady on the CofC Career Rebounding List (at least two years with CofC as a Division I member)
845 – Breanna Bolden (2013-17)
805 – Wilma Simpson (1999-03)
789 – Jodie Olofson (1995-99)
680 – Natalie Seel (1990-94)
674 – Latisha Harris (2009-13)
651 – Tara Currin (1989-93)
635 – Nikki Williams (2005-09)
633 – Sarah Moye (2005-09)
628 – Deidra Jones (2006-10)
593 – Arynn Eady (2018-present)

Eady on the CofC Career Blocked Shots List (at least two years with CofC as a Division I member)
364 – Denise Hogue (1989-93)
164 – Erika Smith (2004-08)
139 – Mikaela Hopkins (2011-15)
129 – Wilma Simpson (1999-03)
86 – Arynn Eady (2018-present)

COLLINS EARNS SPOT ON ALL-CAA THIRD TEAM
Junior guard Tyler Collins was named to the All-CAA third team and enters the tournament ranked among the sta-tistical leaders in several categories.

Collins finished the regular season ranked seventh in the CAA in assists (3.4) and free throw percentage (.780), fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.5), 11th in scoring (13.5) and minutes played (33.4), 13th in 3-pointers made per game (1.5) and 23rd in steals (1.3).

Collins had a season-high 27 points, two off her career high, against James Madison on January 31. That was part of a six-game stretch in which she averaged 19.0 points per game. Collins also had a season-best eight assists against UNCW on January 26 and had six against Wofford, Clemson and Winthrop in consecutive games earlier this year.

Collins has recorded 262 assists in her career to rank eighth in CofC's Division I era (since 1991-92). As a fresh-man in 2018-19, Collins had 131 assists and ranked third in the CAA with 4.4 per game. She tied the school mark with 12 assists in her collegiate debut vs. North Greenville.

Collins on the CofC Career Assists List (at least two years with CofC as a Division I member)
593 – Jillian Brown (2010-14)
466 – Tonia Gerty (2007-11)
413 – Jade Hughes (2005-07, 2008-10)
397 – Marketta Talley (2002-06)
334 – Shiclasia Brown (2014-18)
303 – Shanna Mickens (2000-04); Sara Weaver (1997-01)
273 – Debbie Trowbridge (1993-97)
262 – Tyler Collins (2018-present)

GRAY, WILLIAMS EARN CAA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK HONORS
Tyler Gray was selected the CAA Rookie of the Week on December 21 after scoring 17 points to go along with seven rebounds, four steals and three assists against NC Central. Amira Williams received the award on January 25 on the strength of 20 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots in a split against William & Mary.

Gray ranks 21st in the CAA in assists (2.0), 23rd in the CAA in scoring (9.5) and minutes (28.9) and 16th in steals (1.4). Williams is 10th in the conference in steals (1.5), 17th in rebounding (5.6) and 14th in blocked shots (0.6).

Two other freshmen have played key roles for the Cougars this season. Chelsea Wooten, who has started the last seven contests, leads the team with 25 3-pointers and is ninth in the CAA with 1.8 makes per game. Wooten aver-ages 9.4 points including eight games in double figures with a season high of 16 against Winthrop.

Zoe McCrary has been a strong defensive presence including a pair of games with three blocked shots. She ranks 15th in the CAA with 0.6 rejections per game.

MADISON TAYLOR COMING ON STRONG
Junior guard Madison Taylor is coming off a pair of double-digit scoring games in the final regular season series against UNCW. She had 10 points in the home game against the Seahawks on February 26 and a season-high 18, including four 3-pointers, two days later in Wilmington. Those outings raised her season scoring average to 6.1.

PERKINS HAS SEEN LIMITED ACTION
The Cougars have been without 2019-20 All-CAA third team selection Latrice Perkins for most of the season after she was injured against Northeastern late last year. She saw her first action of the season against James Madison on January 30 and has played a total of 10 minutes in four games.

A year ago, Perkins ranked ninth in the CAA with an average of 13.5 points per game. She also paced the Cougars with 53 steals and was second with a .457 field goal percentage and 50 assists.

COUGARS VS. SEAHAWKS
UNCW holds an 18-13 lead in the series since CofC began the transition to Division I during the 1989-90 season, and the Cougars are 8-11 since joining the CAA in 2013-14. The Seahawks won both games this season, and the teams split last year before UNCW won a matchup in the conference tournament.

CofC won six of the first eight meetings as conference opponents, including a four-game winning streak, but UNCW has taken nine of the last 11. The teams have met three times in the CAA Tournament with the Seahawks taking two of those matchups.