JCSU will play #22 Gannon on Friday, March 9th at 12 p.m. in Edinboro, PA
ERIE, PA – The Johnson C. Smith University women's basketball team will square off against No. 22 nationally ranked Gannon University in the first round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Friday afternoon. The 12 noon game will take place at host Edinboro's McComb Fieldhouse and can be heard on Gannon University's radio station at
www.wergfm.com.
The Golden Bulls enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed, facing No. 6 seed Gannon. The 12 noon game will be the first Friday afternoon followed by No. 2 Shaw (23-6) vs. No. 7 West Virginia Wesleyan (21-7) at 2:30 p.m. The evening schedule includes No. 1 Edinboro (28-1) and No. 8 West Chester (21-7) at 6:30 p.m. and No. 4 Bloomsburg (26-5) vs. No. 5 Indiana (Pa.) (22-6) at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday's semifinals are scheduled for 5 and 7:30 p.m., respectively. The JCSU-Gannon winner plays the Shaw-West Virginia Wesleyan winner at 5 p.m. The Edinboro-West Chester winner battles the Bloomsburg-Indiana (Pa.) winner at 7:30 p.m. The NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional championship game is slated for Monday, March 12 at 7 p.m.
JCSU (22-6) moved to the third seed in the region after falling in the CIAA Tournament finals to Shaw. The Golden Bulls went into the conference tournament ranked No. 2 in the region. This will be the third regional tournament appearance in the last four seasons for Johnson C. Smith.
The senior backcourt triple threat of
LaQwesha Gamble (Winter Haven, FL),
Shavonda Price (Fort Wayne, IN), and
Terran Quattlebaum (Mitchellville, MD) will be expected to carry the load for JCSU. Gamble continues to produce on both ends of the floor, averaging 14.5 points and 11.4 rebounds. Price is just ahead of Gamble as the team's top scorer with 14.9 points a game. Quattlebaum, who has started and come off the bench depending on the matchup, adds 11.6 points on average.
Gannon (21-6) enters the tournament after suffering back-to-back losses to Indiana (Pa.) to close out the regular season and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament. The Lady Golden Knights will be making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last six seasons.
The Lady Golden Knights have three starters averaging double figures in points, led by forward Jennifer Papich. Papich leads the team in scoring and she is second in rebounding with 14.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Caitlyn Lowe, a 5'11 guard, supports the scoring effort with 12.1 points per contest. Forward Nettie Blake is the top rebounder and third leading scorer for Gannon. Blake is averaging 10.1 points and 6.7 rebounds. The trio have played in all 27 games this season and started in at least 24 contests.
