Upstate Entertains N.C. Central, Brevard in Final Non-Conference Games
12/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate women's basketball team returns from the Holiday break and is scheduled to play its final two non-conference games of the season over the course of four days hosting the North Carolina Central Eagles and Brevard College Tornadoes at the G.B. Hodge Center.
Upstate faces N.C. Central on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 4:30 p.m. before closing out non-conference play on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. against Brevard.
The Spartans are back on the court for the first time since Dec. 19 when they fell on the road at Oklahoma State by a score of 108-71. Morgan Williams led Upstate offensively by scoring a career-high 17 points while Tamera Thorpe added 15 points off the bench and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. The Spartans finished the game shooting 43.1 percent from the field and made 12 of their 15 free throw attempts for an 80.0 percent clip.
North Carolina Central enters the weekend with a 2-10 overall record after picking up victories over Longwood and Johnson & Wales. The Eagles are led offensively by Rodneysha Martin with 13.6 points per game while Paulina Afriyie pulls down a team-leading 6.3 rebounds per contest. N.C. Central is under the direction of first-year head coach Trisha Stafford-Odom.
Brevard currently sits at 4-4 on the season with wins against Berry, Wesleyan (Ga.), Bob Jones and St. Andrews. Annalee Bollinger is averaging a team-high 17.1 points per game for the Tornadoes and Whitney DeMoss contributes a team-best 8.7 rebounds per game. Brevard is led by first-year head coach Donald Hudson.
Upstate leads the all-time series over North Carolina Central 4-2 and 1-0 against Brevard.
Fans can follow the action on www.upstatespartans.com via live stats. The games are being streamed on WatchESPN and the ESPN app. Updates will also be posted on the Upstate women's basketball Twitter page (@UpstateWB).
The Spartans travel to Newark, N.J. on Saturday, Jan. 6 for their conference opener at 1 p.m. against NJIT.
Follow Upstate women's basketball on Facebook (UpstateAthletics), Twitter (@UpstateWB), Instagram (@upstatespartans), YouTube (USCUpstateAthletics) and text/e-mail alerts (www.upstatespartans.com/list-signup).
