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ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop women's basketball team will host a four-team, three-day tournament starting Friday afternoon.
The tournament will include the Lady Eagles, looking to build off their season-opening win at Troy last Sunday, Stetson, Bradley and Niagara.
Winthrop will have its home-opener on Friday at 6 p.m. against Bradley. The Eagles will face Niagara on Saturday at 3 p.m. and wrap-up the weekend against Stetson on Sunday at 3 p.m.
The Lady Eagles are 16-26 all-time in home openers and 7-18 at the NCAA Division I level. It will be the first time Winthrop has ever faced Bradley, who enters the game with a 1-1 start to the season.
Bradley opened its season with a victory before suffering a tough defeat on Wednesday as Eastern Illinois connected on a game-winning shot with 9.6 seconds remaining.
The Braves are led by senior Leah Kassing's 13.5 points per game as she's connected on 58 percent of her shots in the first two games of the year. The 6-3 center is also averaging seven rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. Catie O'Leary, a red-shirt sophomore guard, is second on the team in scoring with 12 points per game and is a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line so far. She's also averaging seven rebounds and has four assists and three steals on the year.
As a team, Bradley has scored 58.5 points in the first two games while holding opponents to 54.0 points and dominated the glass with a 42.0-38.5 advantage.
Niagara enters the game having lost its season-opener to Buffalo on Friday, Nov. 11 at home, 65-54. The Purple Eagles were led by junior forward, Jessica Flamm, who scored a team-high 12 points on 3-for-7 shooting and 6-for-6 from the foul line. Sophomore guard Kayla Stroman finished with 10 points and two steals while sophomore center Lauren Gatto had seven points and 10 rebounds.
Niagara shot 28 percent from the field, but were 13-for-16 from the foul line.
Stetson is 1-1 on the year and coming off a 71-57 road loss to Florida on Monday. The Hatters are averaging 60 points per game while yielding 61.5 in two games. Sophomore forward Sasha Sims is leading the offense with 16.5 points per game and shooting 68 percent from behind the arc (4-for-6) and 9-for-10 at the foul line. The rest of the offense has been balanced as six other players average between 5.5 and 9.0 points.
The Classic will begin on Friday at 4 p.m. with Niagara and Stetson facing off followed by Winthrop and Bradley. Stetson and Bradley will start Saturday's games off at 1 p.m. followed by Winthrop and Niagara. The Classic will conclude Sunday with Niagara and Bradley at 1 p.m. and Winthrop and Stetson at 3 p.m. There will be a guaranteed 30 minutes between the end of the first game and tip-off of the second.
What student wouldn't like free textbooks for the spring semester? If you'd like to be eligible to have your textbooks paid for in the spring of 2012, then come out to all three games over the weekend. You must attend all three games and the winner will be announced at the final media timeout of the last game on Sunday. If you're name is drawn, Winthrop head coach Marlene Stollings will buy your books for the spring semester. Students will have their Winthrop I.D. scanned at the entrance.
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Winthrop's Last Five Home Openers
2010, Belmont, Lost 59-50
2009, Coker, Won 58-47
2008, Davidson, Lost 61-40
2007, North Texas, Won 77-56
2006, Davidson, Lost 66-48
