On Your Mark...
11/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2009
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Complete North Greenville Game Notes in PDF Format 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - For head coach Tammy George, this may be the most highly anticipated season since she took over the USC Upstate women's basketball program five years ago. With five of the top six scorers returning from a squad that was one of the most improved team's in Atlantic Sun Conference history, the Spartans will head into the 2009-10 season looking to move into the top half of the conference standings.
It all starts on Friday at 7 p.m. as the Spartans host former Division II rival North Greenville at the Hodge Center, looking to take their fifth straight game from the Crusaders.
Senior Courtney Hawkins also enters the game on a mission, needing just 12 points to become the 12th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. The 5-4 guard is a playmaker and she led the A-Sun in scoring as a sophomore, averaging 16.4 points per game.
North Greenville is coming off a 13-15 season with seven letterwinners and five players with significant starting experience returning. Karly Stache led the team, averaging 13.4 points last year.
Spartan Notables
• The Spartans are 0-1 all-time on Nov. 13, last falling at Wake Forest, 58-51, in 2007.
• Upstate is 19-15 (.559) all-time in season openers and 26-8 (.765) all-time in home openers.
• Senior Courtney Hawkins, at 5-4, could become the shortest player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. The shortest players currently to have scored 1,000 points at Upstate are 5-9 guards Valerie Scott (1988-92) and Stephanie Feyes (2001-05).
• Junior Chelsea McMillan is the second player in as many years to earn Preseason All-A-Sun honors, joining senior Courtney Hawkins, who earned the honor in 2008-09.
• Senior Courtney Hawkins is the only Spartan who was on the roster for Upstate the last time it faced North Greenville in 2006. She scored six points in the 78-49 win.
• Sophomore Kendra Wallace needs three 3-pointers to become the eighth player in school history to can 75 in a career.
• Sophomore Lesley Daniel needs just five points and five assists to reach 150 in those categories in her career.
Hawk's Grand Performance
Senior Courtney Hawkins enters her senior season looking to close in on one of the most revered milestones in collegiate basketball - 1,000 points. She finished her junior year just 12 points shy of the milestone and has averaged exactly 12.0 points per game for her career. A 5-4 guard from Greer, S.C., Hawkins is a dynamic guard, entering the season on the cusp of entering the top 10 in both scoring and steals (153) while she is already in the top 10 in career 3-pointers (91, sixth) and assists (230, 10th).
All-Time Thievery
As mentioned before, senior Courtney Hawkins enters her senior year on the cusp of entering the career top 10 in steals at Upstate, having posted 153 in her career, just three shy of 10th. A play-making guard, Hawkins has routinely been assigned an opponent's top guard and been asked to stop her. Hawkins will need just 47 steals during her senior year to become the third player in school history to reach 200 career thefts.
The Downtown Train
The 2009-10 Spartans already have a pair of players in the all-time top 10 in career 3-pointers and each will look to become just the fifth and sixth players to reach 100 career 3-pointers in an Upstate uniform during the season. Senior Courtney Hawkins is currently sixth in school history with 91 threes, needing just nine more to reach the mark. Sophomore Kendra Wallace, after hitting 72 as a freshman, is already ninth in school history, needing 28 to reach 100 career trifectas.
McMillan Earns Slot On Preseason All-A-Sun Team
One of only three players in the A-Sun to finish in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding in 2008-09, junior Chelsea McMillan landed a spot on the Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Conference team, the conference office announced on Oct. 7. McMillan finished 10th in the A-Sun in scoring (12.2) and third in rebounding (7.8) per game as a sophomore. A tough player with a sweet touch, McMillan hit 44 percent of her shots from the field and 83 percent (second in the A-Sun) from the charity stripe as a sophomore and will be counted on to increase her playing time (21.8 minutes per game) as a sophomore. McMillan was also a force inside, finishing third in the A-Sun with an average of 1.50 blocked shots per game.
Home Improvement
In an unofficial report released by Hofstra Assistant SID Stephen Gorchev, USC Upstate tied for 20th in the nation in best turnarounds from the 2007-08 season to 2008-09. The Spartans, who won five games in 2007-08, won 13 games in 2008-09, an eight-win improvement. Central Connecticut State, who went from four wins in 2007-08 to 18 last season, topped the list with its 14-game turnaround. Upstate's seven-win improvement in A-Sun play, from one win to eight, was the fifth-best turnaround in conference history.
Tammy's Totals
Head coach Tammy George, in her fifth year at USC Upstate, is moving up the school's career wins list. The sixth coach of 14 at Upstate to post three 10-win seasons, George is tied with Carmon Nelon (1995-99) for fourth on Upstate's career coaching victories chart. George, a 1993 graduate of UNC Charlotte, coached Brevard for two seasons, compiling a 43-21 record before moving to Upstate in 2005-06, when she led the team to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time since 1995.
Daniel's Return
Sophomore Lesley Daniel has returned to the court after a knee injury took her from the court for the last four games of her freshman year. The 5-5 left-handed guard proved herself to be a gritty, hard-nosed ballhandler as a freshman with an ability to score in bunches, as she notched five 10-point games during the season. She has come back from the injury strong and has impressed during the early season practices.
Taking Charity
Over the course of the last 23 games of the 2008-09 season, the Spartans made a considerable effort to take advantage of others' charity, moving from 10th in the A-Sun in free throw percentage (.647 after the game at Kennesaw State on Dec. 13) all the way to the top of the conference and school record book, compiling a .715 free throw percentage. The previous best mark in the Spartan record book is .708 from the 2002-03 season.
Since the Kennesaw State game, the Spartans shot a healthy .737 (353-449) from the free-throw line, led by a robust 86.3 (63-73) percent from sophomore Chelsea McMillan and a healthy 77.5 (55-71) percent from junior Koko Richardson.
Richardson's Rolling
Through the last five games of the 2008-09 season, there was no guard hotter than senior Koko Richardson, who poured in double-figures in each of the last five games of the season. A 5-8 guard that can play anywhere from No. 1 to No. 4, Richardson scored a career-high 18 points at Lipscomb and then followed that by scoring 15 at Campbell, 11 against ETSU and Mercer and 10 against Kennesaw State. A solid 3-point shooter, Richardson shot 42 percent (5-for-12) from behind the arc during the run and added a 22-for-31 (71 percent) effort from the charity stripe. During all five of those games last season, Richardson scored the points while coming off the bench, but she is expected to step into the starting lineup this year.
New Kids On The Block
One year after finishing next-to-last in the A-Sun in blocked shots, the Spartans finished third in the league in the category, averaging 4.14 rejections per game, setting a new school record in the category. With its 114 rejections, the team broke the school record of 101 set in 2002-03 with its fourth rejection against Lipscomb on Feb. 15. The drastic turnaround can be attributed to the addition of one of the best shot-blockers in the league in sophomore Chelsea McMillan. McMillan, with 42 rejections, finished third in the league.
Going National
Freshman Kendra Wallace was so hot from downtown in 2008-09 that she quickly moved into the national rankings. Wallace was 28th in 3-pointers made (2.5). The 5-9 freshman finished second in the A-Sun in 3-pointers made per game (2.48) and was also eighth in the league in 3-point field goal percentage, hitting 36.7 percent (72-for-196) of her attempts this year. She also led all conference freshmen in both points (12.0) and minutes played (34.6).
The Team of the Upstate
A pair of transfers will team up with senior Courtney Hawkins to give the Spartans the true feel of Upstate South Carolina, as Greenville products Sharniece Wadelington and Shadae Thompson join the team. All three competed against each other in high school with Hawkins earning two all-state honors at Greer High School, Wadelington earning Greenville County Player of the Year honors at J.L. Mann High School and Thompson earning all-state honors at Greenville High School. All three played their prep senior seasons in 2005-06, but Hawkins was the only one to commit at USC Upstate as part of head coach Tammy George's first full recruiting class. Wadelington went to UNC Greensboro before returning to Upstate in 2008-09 and Thompson attended Anderson (S.C.) University before heading to Upstate last year and walking onto the team this year.
Into The Fire
Head coach Tammy George has not been shy about playing freshmen during Upstate's first two years of Division I play. In fact, Upstate's three freshmen in 2008-09 averaged 23.6 minutes of court time per player during the season. Kendra Wallace led the way, playing 1,004 minutes, an average of 34.6 minutes per night. In 2007-08, the Spartans' five freshmen averaged 10.8 minutes per night, but three of them averaged more than 15.0 minutes per game.
Pitman's Post
Junior Kim Pitman returns to the Spartans as one of only two players with collegiate experience in the post. The 6-2 junior has been stung by the injury bug several times during her first two years at Upstate, but will have several opportunities to compete for playing time. In her first two seasons, Pitman has started 10 games and appeared in 41. Pitman has averaged 1.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.
Who's New?
Even with the return of five of the top six scorers from the 2008-09 season, the Spartans will have a relatively young team that includes six new faces. Junior transfers Sharniece Wadelington and Shadae Thompson were each all-state selections at Greenville area high schools. Tee'Ara Copney is one of the best players to ever come out of T.C. Roberson High School, one of the top programs in Western North Carolina, as the 5-7 guard was ranked 42nd amongst point guards in the class of 2009 by the Collegiate Girls' Basketball Report. Morgon Goss will also look to make an impact at the guard position, as the 5-6 Morrow, Ga., native was ranked 739th in the nation by the All-Star Girls' Basketball Report. In the post, freshmen Lauren McRoberts and Christine Nyobe will look to make impacts, as McRoberts was listed 75th in the nation at power forward by ESPN Hoop Gurlz.com and Nyobe was 1,023rd in the ASGBR rankings.
November Reign
USC Upstate completed just its fifth undefeated November in school history when it defeated IUPUI, 73-63, on Nov. 24, 2008. The Spartans, who finished 4-0 in the month, were the first squad since 1994-95 to go unbeaten during the season's opening month. The team won the most games in the month to stay undefeated, as both the 1993-94 and 1994-95 squads won three games during the month and the 1977-78 and 1978-79 teams won just their season openers in November. Since moving to Division I in 2007-08, the Spartans are 6-4 (.600) in the 11th month. The Spartans last loss in the 11th month came on Nov. 20, 2007 at North Carolina A&T.
Vs. Ranked Opponents
When USC Upstate takes the floor against Virginia on Wednesday night, it looks like it will be the first time in the D-I era that the Spartans will face a nationally-ranked opponent, as the Cavaliers started the season ranked 14th in the Associated Press poll and 18th in the ESPN/USA Today national polls. Upstate has only ever faced one opponent receiving votes in the national poll, falling to Georgia Tech, 92-45, on Dec. 6, 2007.
Upstate Picked To Finish Eighth In Preseason Poll
The Spartans were selected to finish eighth in the league in the Preseason Coaches' Poll and 10th in the Preseason Media Poll. FGCU was selected to repeat as the league champion and ETSU as the tournament champions in both polls and ETSU's Siarre Evans was selected the preseason player of the year.
Upstate Signs A.C. Flora's Roach
USC Upstate will welcome one of the best prep players in South Carolina in 2010-11, as 5-10 post Kim Roach has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the school. Roach, who has already earned four letters with A.C. Flora, earned Class AAA All-State honors from both the AP and the High School Sports Report. She also earned all-region and all-area honors as a junior, averaging 15.9 points per game. She was named one of the top five girls' high school players in the class of 2010 by SouthernHoops.net and she was also an all-region selection as a sophomore. Also active in club basketball, Roach played with the GA/Lina 76'ers Nike Team, part of the D&D Development program run by Jerome Dickerson, a former professional NBA trainer. She was also a part of the 2009 Junior/Senior Elite Showcase at Elon University this summer, being named one of the top 50 prospects at the prestigious camp. Roach also played volleyball for the Falcons.
Home At The Hodge
USC Upstate has a distinct home court advantage at the G.B. Hodge Center, the home of the Spartans since the program began in 1974. In 35 years of women's basketball at the arena, the Spartans have a record of 235-164 (.589). The program reached the NCAA Division II Tournament four times in 19 seasons and the program has posted two perfect seasons (1978-79, 1993-94) in the gym. In 2008-09, the Spartans once again made the Hodge a nightmare to its opponents, posting a 9-4 record in Spartanburg. In head coach Tammy George's five years as head coach, the Spartans are 27-23 (.540) in the building.
Thank You, Dodie
Shortly after the final buzzer sounds to end the women's basketball team's season, the University of South Carolina Upstate will begin a renovation of the G.B. Hodge Center thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Dolores (Dodie) Anderson, who has provided the University with a $4 million gift to fund the project. Anderson is a 1981 graduate of USC Upstate with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. She was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006 on the 25th anniversary of her graduation from USC Upstate. She is the former owner of Anderson Hardwood Floors in Clinton and Walterboro, S.C. , the largest privately owned hardwood floor manufacturer in the United States. A co-owner, she recently sold her stake in the company to pursue other business interests.
Anderson is a strong supporter of the USC Upstate Athletic Program, especially men's basketball. She received the University's Founders Day Award in 1986, was inducted into the University's Honor Fraternity in May 2005, and is a former member of the Carolina Piedmont Foundation Board of Directors, which is the fundraising arm of USC Upstate. She is the wife of the late Bob Anderson and the mother of four daughters, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The $4 million gift to USC Upstate marks the largest single gift to the Athletics Department in University history. The renovation of the Hodge Center will focus mainly on the competition court and some auxiliary functions of the athletics department. The gymnasium will be completely gutted with several improvements scheduled to be made. In addition to the installation of a new floor, the facility will also receive new seating, lighting and state-of-the-art scoreboards and scorer's tables. Outside of the gym area, the women's basketball and volleyball programs will get their own locker room facilities after sharing a locker room for the better part of two decades.
A New Standard
Nine USC Upstate women's basketball players earned A-Sun All-Academic Team honors in 2008-09 by earning a 3.0 GPA during the fall semester, the conference office announced on Jan. 15. The nine players (freshmen Lesley Daniel and Kendra Wallace, sophomores Sam Frost, Kim Pitman and Tiffany Whiting, juniors Courtney Hawkins and Kolesia Richardson and seniors Ebony Johnson and Kelly Westfield) set a new standard for women's basketball teams at Upstate in the classroom, as the previous best for all-academic team selections was when eight then Lady Rifles were named to the Peach Belt Presidential Honor Roll.
About USC Upstate
USC Upstate was founded in 1967 as the Spartanburg Regional Campus, a junior college and branch of the University of South Carolina. By 1975, the school began to offer baccalureate degrees and became USC Spartanburg. The school, which had competed in men's basketball since the school's founding, moved to the NAIA. They were known as the Rifles, a nod to a local militia unit from the Revolutionary War. The school continued to grow and in 1990, the athletic programs moved from the NAIA with 12 like-minded schools from South Carolina and Georgia, forming the Peach Belt Conference. In 2004, the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees passed a resolution to change the name of the school to the University of South Carolina Upstate. In a better effort to brand the University and its new image, the athletic department changed its nickname to Spartans. In 2006-07, the athletic department began its five-year transition to Division I and its full membership in the Atlantic Sun Conference, competing at the Division II level for the last time.
A Coaching Playground
During its days in the NAIA and in the NCAA Division II, the USC Upstate women's basketball program served as a proving ground for several young coaches. The first Spartan coach to move on to higher-level coaching assignments was Kim Buford, who led the then-USC Spartanburg Lady Rifles to 41 wins from 1985-87 in the NAIA before moving on to NCAA Division II Tampa. After Buford left, Tammy Holder, who went on to serve as head coach at Cal State Northridge and also served as an assistant at South Carolina, helped the team transition to Division II from the NAIA, posting 18 wins and earning Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year honors in 1990-91. She left for Division I Richmond at the end of the season. One year later, Peggy Sells was hired and she immediately coached the Spartans to three straight Peach Belt Conference championships before leaving for Division I Virginia Commonwealth University in 1995. Carmen Nelon took over for Sells and spent the next four years in Spartanburg before moving to Emporia State University, where she is an Associate Athletic Director and Senior Women's Administrator. She was replaced by Gene Hill, who left USC Spartanburg in 2001 to become an assistant coach at Division I Butler, where he has since moved on to be a part of Georgia Tech's powerful program.
