VALDOSTA, Ga. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team will get back out on the road this week, opening with a Thursday night contest against Valodsta State University at 5:00 pm (Central) in Georgia.
This will be the 23rd all-time meeting between the two schools, with the Blazers holding a 14-8 edge in the series. MC and VSU have not played in Georgia since the 1994-95 season with the Blazers winning 87-74. The Lady Choctaws are 2-4 all-time at Valdosta. The two teams met back on December 20th in the final game of 2014 with VSU winning 76-69. The Blazers jumped out to a big first-half lead, but MC cut the score to 40-38 at the half. Valdosta pushed the lead out to as many as 13 in the second half and held off a late charge by MC. Four Lady Choctaws scored in double-figures, led by
Kristen Sampson with 14 points, six rebounds and two steals.
Head coach
Paul Allen Duke coached his 500th career game on Saturday, January 24th at West Alabama. He began his 20-year career at MC in the 1995-96 season and is the all-time leader in school history in wins (339) and winning percentage (.675). Duke earned his 300th career victory over January 14th, 2012 against East Texas Baptist.
The Lady Choctaws fell behind big early on against Union University at home, and fell to the Lady Bulldogs, 71-52. MC finished with a flourish, however, as they outscored Union in the final minutes, 24-7.
Kristen Sampson led MC with 20 points, going 9-of-14 from the field, while
AnnMarie Harris scored eight points with a season-high four steals. MC shot just 33% from the field in the first half as they dropped their fourth straight game.
Sampson (11.8 ppg) is the team's leading scorer and is shooting 45% from the floor and 41% from the three-point line. She has scored in double-figures in three straight games and has scored at least 20 points in three games this season.
Ashley Minor (11.4 ppg) is also averaging in double-figures and leads the team with 44 steals.
Zaneta Kubicka is averaging 4.9 pointsn and 4.4 rebounds per contest, while blocking a team-high 23 shots. It's the most blocked shots in a single-season for a Lady Choctaw since Shayla McLin blocked 25 shots in the 2005-06 season.
The Blazers, led by 15th-year head coach Kiley Hill, have struggled after opening the season with eight wins in their first 12 games. They have gone just 2-7, including a five-game losing stretch. Last tiime out, they went on the road and picked up a 64-63 victory against Lee University as Maggie Davis and April Thomas combined for 44 points and went 8-of-14 from the three-point line.
Thomas (14.1 ppg) is the team's leading scorer this season, shooting 42% from the floor and scoring in double-figures in all but six games this year with a season-high 22 against Fort Valley State. Davis is averaging 10.4 points per game and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per contest, while shooting 60% from the field and 41% from the three-point line.
